What Europe thinks

26 Comments Peter Hoskin 13 March 2012 15:34

Who thinks what about the European Union? We’ve covered the European Commission’s own polling on the matter before now, which suggests that
Britain is the most Eurosceptic nation of them all. And today that impression is reinforced by a exhaustive YouGov Cambridge survey conducted across seven European countries, including our own. I’d
recommend that CoffeeHousers’ sift through the full results "http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/6xufjlailj/Eurozone%20Crisis%20-%20Cross-Country%20Report_06-Mar-2012_F.pdf">here, to discover nuggets such as that Brits are over
twice as likely as the other participating nationalities to describe the EU as a ‘dictatorship’. But here are some of the main findings anyway:

1. Still the most Eurosceptic of them all. The main divide is between those countries that want more EU integration and those that want less. On this measure, Britain is starkly
more Eurosceptic than the others:

And this shows in some of the survey’s other findings too. For instance, 54 per cent of British respondents are opposed to the creation of a ‘single European military’, against 28 per
cent of Germans.

2. A looser relationship rather than no relationship. But, when you look more closely at British Euroscepticism, a ‘looser relationship’ with the EU is more popular
than withdrawal:

3. The popularity of referenda. 60 per cent of Brits think we should hold a referendum to decide on our country’s ‘relationship with the EU’ — so no surprise there, then.
But it’s striking how this support carries across the other countries too:

Also, 68 per cent of Brits think we should leave the EU if that’s what the majority wants — the highest proportion among any of the responding countries.

4. The global popularity league. If you like how the Eurovision song contest exposes international enmities, then you’ll love the findings on page 13 of the survey. YouGov presents
a list of 12 countries, and asks, ‘how favourable you feel, if at all, towards their influence on the world stage’. And here are the overall results:

For all the ‘freedom fries’ brouhaha of a decade ago, it turns out that American influence is actually quite popular in France.

5. Economic woes and a cutting divide. Oh dear, British people are as downbeat about our economy as the Italians are about theirs:

Which may help to explain this:

Tags: America, Economy, EU referendum, Europe, European Union, France, Germany, Polls, Public finances, UK politics

Rick’s religious concerns

Freddy Gray

13 March 2012 12:20

IDS’s important call for ‘social value’

Peter Hoskin

13 March 2012 17:37

RocketDog

Lies and damned statistics
The bit that interests me is the assertion that 40% of my countrymen (and women) favour a ‘looser association’ with the EUSSR but that 68% would back a majority vote to withdraw. So would the same 68% by association back a majority vote to rush headlong into the pit of doom?
I see some interesting premises being set up here
John A Fotheringham

@Russell. You do know what the U in “UK” stands for, don’t you?

If you throw everyone else out of the UK what exactly do you think will be “united”? The North and South of England? Yorkshire and Lancashire? Just wondering.
Minnie Ovens

There are some responses which one might view with incredulity…influence on world stage and certainly the cut too fast responses.
It might be best to breakdown by gender and age as one might wonder whether the socialist’s's assault on the education system has achieved its aims of dumbing down the population so successfully that many younger are unable to analyse anything on their own.
I’m not too sure whether I should roar with laughter or cry at the tax cut question.
How malignly influential is the BBC’s viewpoint in all of this?
Adam Nixon

@ Russell Independence for England, a nice idea. But why force Scotland, Wales and NI out of thhe UK? They are welcome to carry on being the UK without England, if they wish.

And NI of course should go to Scotlan if it seceeds, since it was the Scots who colonised it in the first place.
Bickers

“Cutting too far, too fast”. That a majority of Brits think this, shows how disengaged and illiterate they are when it comes to understanding the state of the economy. Spending in cash terms is still going up, the public sector is still a largely unreformed, profligate entity and the Government is still spraying money around we don’t have on vanity projects e.g. HS2 & Foreign Aid to countries that are more than capable of looking after their poor.

Canada showed how to cut public spending when it did so at the rate of 20%

The biggest threat to our country is Government itself (including the EU which Parliament is subservient to). We need to get Government out of large tracts of our lives and economy. Whilst the Bankers deserve a kicking it’s Government that has ramped up most of the debts and future liabilities. And it’s Government that’s strangling business with red tape and onerous employment legislation.
Dan

The point is we already have a much looser relationship than most members, out of Euro and no likelihood of ever joining, same with Schengen, various other opt outs of every treaty of the last few decades.

You want to be out then that is a logical position. You want to have all of the ‘benefits of membership’ but none of the costs and we get to have votes at the council about things we have opted out of, not going to happen. As someone else said it is wishing for the tooth fairy.

I do not understand the tortured discussion on some sort of an ‘in but not really’ position. It is not and never will be on offer. Switzerland and Norway are mentioned but the point is they are OUT. That is a perfectly logical position but it is OUT not in but different!
Russell

Out of the EU, and Independence for England, would be wonderful.
Throw Scotland and Wales out of the UK, and let Eire have NI.
Use our Armed Forces usefully on the new border controls.
The EDL are not ambitious enough.
Colin Cumner

Haven’t the British always been suspicious of Europe? Can’t say I blame them given that many of the conflicts that have arisen over the past couple of centuries had their origins in the more powerful European states.
Today I don’t think the majority of Britons has much fondness of our closest neighbours either and the whole concept of the E.U. seems to be falling apart.
telemachus’

salieri
March 13th, 2012 6:57pm
I guess the point is that the arch druid is only about 50% right in his pronouncements
Dimoto

2)
In blighty, the whole media lives on total negativity, scape-goating, and the creation of phantom causes, and the public lap it up.

Any half-wit “think tank” or dodgy financial institution, forecasting yet more doom, is guaranteed headlines, whilst morsels of encouraging news are glossed over.

I suppose that this hyper-critical habit and near psychotic suspicion is why we have a robust democracy, whilst most of our “European neighbours” have fragile and wafer thin democracies.
Dimoto

1)
The chart on the cuts, really only demonstrates the UK penchant for talking the country down.

No other country in Europe has this distinctly strange behaviour.

La belle France always sees itself as a “vanguard country” even when (as now) they are slowly going down the plug-hole,

The Scandinavians are famously self-satisfied,

The Italians have seen it all before (several times) and can’t be bothered.

The Dutch are often wrong but never in doubt,

And anyone who reads the German press will know that the master-race syndrome lives on – smug must be a German word, and they get SO distressed when anything goes “not according to plan”.
HJ

John Adlington:

“I can’t believe more than half of my compatriots believe the rate of government ‘cuts’ is too fast.”

Most people have no idea of the size or otherwise of the ‘cuts’. Unfortunately, all they hear is the claims, not the figures.

The BBC, which supposedly has a public service remit, contents itself by supposedly being unbiased, i.e. reporting competing claims, not by actually looking at the facts. The Labour party and unions repeat the “too far, too fast” claim ad nauseum and the government sees value in letting people think they are bigger than they are.

In fact, spending grew in real terms in 2009/10 and fell in 2010/11 by only about (we don’t know the final figure yet) 1%.

Indeed, a recent poll indicated that most people think that the government is planning to cut the debt during this parliament, as opposed to merely reducing the rate of increase.
salieri

P from M:

Thank you. Can’t we know them all, even if the mods already do? Fifth columnists should be named and shamed.
Frank P

Good catch Peter.
Axstane

One sees that Italy is the most EU-supine country – perhaps because they have never had a stable government of their own and alos because they are a nett recipient of EU-aid.

The overall view from Germany is perhaps different to what it was 6 months ago because they now see that Germany is on the brink of running Europe.

The political elite of this group will never let them leave irrespective of what the citizens think.
Mark M

The whole ‘looser relationship’, ‘withdrawal’ question is very loosely defined. For instance, I want the UK to have a relationship with the EU, just not to be a member of it – so is that withdrawal or looser membership?

Another poster has it right. There is no ‘looser relationship’ option. It’s either fiscal union, or leave the EU and see what agreements we can negotiate.
Peter From Maidstone

Can I just say here that Patriccia Shaw aka Telemachus is now using the name Keith Dudgeon. Just so folk know. He’s used a few others but I won’t bother listing them all here unless he starts using them again.
chinawatcher

Some interesting analysis and conclusions to be drawn.

One of the less obvious is that the Chinese and all their money may be more drawn to the UK for inward investment and trade than to the rest of Europe.

See link to the China Daily the state owned English language newspaper:
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-03/13/content_14818656.htm
veritty

I see the UK is top of those concerned about national border security. All in all we should like the Irish have a referendum
salieri

I wouldn’t trust any poll conducted for the European Commission further than I could throw it.
charles hercock

So if 60% want less integration and 60% want a referendum just what are the brakes on moving forward.
Are the Tories so afraid of the Lib Dems? Gateshead showed us just what a busted flush they are.
No problem if they pull out of the coalition,they would be anihilated if we went to the polls …and while the joke Miliband remains at Labour the Tories could clean up.
Herr Kartoffelkopf

The last chart shows just how effectively the Labour ‘Fear Machine’ has been working. They might be completely wrong, but the repetition of the ‘Too far, too fast’ mantra seems to have gripped the masses…
yohodi

A looser relationship with EUthanasia would certainly suit me, a much looser relationship with our own idiot/political class would do too!
ROJ

The interesting statistic would be what percentage in the UK would favour pulling out, if it became clear (if it has not already) that a losser relationship was never going to be on offer. “Do you believe that the UK should pull out of the EU, or would you prefer to believe in the tooth fairy?”
Peter From Maidstone

Sorry, what spending is being cut? I thought that we were actually spending more than under the last Government at present?

And clearly respondents were not informed that it is impossible to have a looser relationship with the EU without leaving. There is only one ambition for the EU and it is political, economic and social union.
John Adlington

I can’t believe more than half of my compatriots believe the rate of government ‘cuts’ is too fast.

What Europe thinks

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