I check online editions of the Financial Times and The World Street Journal a couple of times a day. On every visit, I skim through article headings, financial indices, and currency rates. This morning I was surprised by an article heading in the Financial Times mentioning Croatia, which rarely figures in either newspaper: “Commission Report Lifts Croatia’s EU Hopes.” Good news. The subtitle was even more interesting, though: “Enlargement Report Calls for Crackdown on Corruption.” Oops. How is that to be done in a society that is corrupt to the marrow of its bones? What can the government do when it, too, is corrupt from top to bottom?  But, not to worry.  Sooner or later, the European Union will be forced to relent on this one. And the rest of the Balkans will figure prominently if obliquely in the Commission’s argument. By comparison, that is, Croatia will smell like a rose.