The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Chart of the day: a divided Union

EU members feel increasingly unrepresented by their club.

By George Eaton Published 24 February 2012 16:22

In whose interests is the EU run? "Not ours" is the answer from most member states. The EU commission's new Eurobarometer survey (helpfully summarised by Absolute Strategy Research in its latest briefing) shows that almost every country feels increasingly underrepresented.

Just 38 per cent of EU citizens believe that their interests are taken into account by the EU, compared with 51 per cent who believe they are not. Of the EU's 27 members, only Germany, France, Denmark and Finland feel more represented than a year ago. While 53 per cent of Germans believe their interests are taken into account, just 20 per cent of Greeks do (78 per cent do not).

UK citizens are only marginally less negative than their Greek counterparts. Just 26 per cent believe the UK's interests are taken into account, compared with 64 per cent who believe they are not.

Of note is the dramatic shift of opinion in Ireland, a country which, like Greece, has ceded its economic sovereignty to Brussels.

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Tags: Chart of the day

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7 comments

Fri, 2012-02-24 19:41 — Fergus Pickering (not verified)

I suppose there's not much to say except screw the EU. Ah well! Screw the EU! Behead Barroso, however he spells it. Likewise the Baroness and Rumpy-Pump.

Sat, 2012-02-25 20:15 — The Old Man

Re the comment by Fergus Pickering, I do not see how a referendum would make the EU more accountable to citizens of member countries. If the UK voted to stay in, as is more than possible, it would then be even more difficult for our government to promote our interests, even supposing they wanted to do so.

Mon, 2012-02-27 08:33 — Chris Beeley (not verified)

The graph is very difficult to read. A line chart would have been better, or maybe a dotplot.

Sat, 2012-02-25 10:22 — Matt Thompson (not verified)

Even you lot at the NS must agree that we MUST now have a referendum?

Democracy must win through. Greece will have a revolution soon - they could potentially end up having their own arab spring. You think that George Osbournes austerity is bad, but lets put things into perspectives. The Greeks are being used as political pawns.

Sat, 2012-02-25 11:35 — Livers (not verified)

@Matt Thompson

Monetary union is failing, don't conflate that with the EU failing.

Tue, 2012-02-28 15:53 — Willp

The EU will have ‘an enhanced and permanent presence on the ground in Greece’. The EU is even ordering Greece to change its constitution to make debt repayment its top priority. The infamous Lisbon Treaty gave the EU the powers to install governments it wants, as in Italy, and to impose colonial-style ‘protectorates’ on states it deems to be ‘failed’.

The EU has issued Greece with a list of ‘prior actions’ that must be completed before the bailout is finalised. These include passing an extra €3.3 billion cuts this year, cuts to the minimum wage, more labour market flexibility and opening up the professions to more competition.

Greek workers have already had a 30 per cent pay cut since 2009. The EU wants another 15 per cent cut over the next three years. Unemployment is already 21 per cent. The economy is shrinking at the rate of 7 per cent a year.

This is economic war on workers. It is the economics of genocide.

Sat, 2012-02-25 11:50 — Sam (not verified)

My natural instinct would be to be pro-EU as I think we have a lot to gain by working together but I'm increasingly thinking that the EU is going to break up at some point. The German public have no appetite for taking responsibility for what's happening in the Eurozone so untill that changes it is almost certain that Euro is going to come to a point where it will collapse unless they truly do what's neccessary.

Even if they do that I think the march to federalism will bring it down as the 'independence' movements in most countries will just get stronger and some will inevitably vote to leave the EU. Perhaps more than many suspect.

Perhaps after this EU has fallen we'll be able to build a new organisation that isn't run by people living in cloud cuckoo land.