Growing Discontent in the EU
Video Transcript:
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center on eight members of the European Union revealed that popular support for the EU is dropping in most countries. According to the study, average support for the EU has fallen to 45 percent, from 60 percent last year. Most Europeans consider unemployment to be the main problem of the Continent, and there is a generally negative perception of mainstream political parties and leaders.
The survey also highlights a growing disconnect between Germany and France in the perception of the crisis. Germany has one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the eurozone, and six in ten Germans have a positive view of the European Union and consider that Chancellor Angela Merkel is doing a good job. On the contrary, only 40 percent of the French have a favorable view of the EU, and they are unhappy with their government and skeptical about their economic future.
These opposing views reveal the extent to what the European crisis is undermining the foundations of the European Union. The process of European integration basically relies on two pillars. The first is the alliance between Germany and France, the two largest economies of Europe that clashed in two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century. Paris and Berlin are committed to preserving their alliance, but as the economic crisis is beginning to hit France, the French are feeling increasingly uncomfortable with their role in the European Union.
The second pillar of the European integration process is the promise of prosperity. The European Communities were created six decades ago with the premise that economic development would suppress nationalism and create a unified Europe. The EU managed to honor this promise for most of its existence, but the crisis is currently putting it into question. As the Pew survey reveals, most Europeans think that their children will be worse off economically than their parents when they grow up. This is the first time since the Second World War that the economic prosperity of Western Europe is in doubt. Record unemployment and growing emigration in countries such as Spain and Portugal illustrates the extent to which people in the European periphery are being affected by the crisis.
The EU is currently a hot political issue in the United Kingdom, where Prime Minister David Cameron promised to hold a referendum on the country's EU membership after the general elections of 2015. But a sector of the ruling Conservative Party is pushing Cameron to hold the referendum before that date. Even if Cameron manages to calm down those parliamentarians, the prospect of a renegotiation of the European treaties could open the door for other countries to demand concessions, thus adding more uncertainty in the EU.
In recent months, the promise of intervention in the debt markets by the European Central Bank managed to bring calm to the financial markets. Additionally, the European Commission has adopted a more flexible stance on austerity measures. However, the situation on the ground keeps deteriorating for a growing number of Europeans. As the economic situation worsens, so does popular support for the European Union and the political elites that built it.
