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).
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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.