THE WEEK THAT WAS... (May 13, 2013)

‘Europe was always hope, always a common future, always an ideal’, France’s Minister for Finance and Economy Pierre Moscovici said recently, ‘if Europe is no more to be any of that, but just common rules that lead to pain, then how can people love Europe’? Reading a recent survey of Eurobarometer, the European Commission polling institute, in the 6 biggest EU memberstates, the answer to Moscovici’s question is quite clear; a growing majority of Europeans do not love the European Union!

In 2008 no country, not even Britain, showed more than half its voters hostile to Europe. Now distrust runs 53% (from 28%) in Italy, 56% (41%) in France, 59% (36%) in Germany, 69% (49%) in the UK and 72% (23%) in Spain; but also in a Europhile country such as Poland, the biggest beneficiary from the transfers of tens of billions of Euro’s from ‘Brussels’, the no-trust rose in five years from 18% to 42%. The six countries jointly make up around 350 million of the EU’s 500 million population.

Will it be different in smaller memberstates? 66% of Greeks now have a ‘negative opinion’ about the EU. Look at the people in Cyprus. Look also at Croatia, EU memberstate from July 1 on: the turnout for the MEP elections was only just above 20%.
Commission President Barroso called the result of the survey a ‘lack of understanding of the politics of austerity’. He continued: ‘A resulting resurgence of populism and nationalism is threatening the European dream’. But, as we often have seen in the past dreams make dangerous politics.

European Council on Foreign Relations official Torreblanca said: ‘The ongoing requirement of ‘yet more Europe’ by federalists and technocrats is against the public opinion. It feeds the vicious circle between anti-EU populism and technocrats.’