Saturday

30th Sep 2023

Euro 'bad for the economy,' say French, Germans, Spaniards

  • Most Europeans do not trust the EU to solve the economic crisis (Photo: Fotolia)

As EU leaders gather in Brussels to brainstorm on the EU's role on the world stage and ways to toughen eurozone fiscal discipline, a fresh survey shows that most citizens in the main euro-countries think the common currency has been bad for the economy and are looking at national governments rather than the EU to tackle the economic crisis.

Some 60 percent of the French, and more than half of German, Spanish and Portuguese respondents said that the euro was "a bad thing for their economy", according to Transatlantic Trends, a survey published on Wednesday (15 September) by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The US think-tank carried out the survey in June in 11 EU countries and found that only the Netherlands and Slovakia had majorities saying the euro is a good thing.

Outside the eurozone, 83 percent of the British, 53 percent of Poles and 42 percent of Bulgarians thought that using the euro would be bad for the domestic economy. The only exception was Romania, where 54 percent of respondents are in favour of the common currency.

The survey also shows that while most citizens are in favour of EU accession, they also think national governments should be responsible for the tackling the economic crisis, rather than the EU institutions.

Only in Germany, who has been pushing for stricter EU rules to prevent another eurozone crisis, did the majority of respondents (54 percent) agree that the European Union should have the primary responsibility for economic decision-making.

This option was the least popular in the United Kingdom (25 percent) and in new member states Bulgaria (24 percent), Slovakia (22 percent), and Romania (15 percent) – usually favourable to handing over more powers to Brussels. The French were divided on the issue, with 47 percent saying the national government and 43 percent saying the EU should have the primary responsibility.

These results sharply contradict a recent European Commission survey that Brussels interpreted as saying that European citizens are in favour of "European economic governance" - a fuzzy term being explored by an ad hoc task-force set up by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who will be chairing the leaders' meeting on Thursday and outlining the first ideas on this issue.

Member states however strongly disagree on the measures – with Germany favouring 'automatic sanctions', while the southern countries insisting on a redistribution of debt among the euro-states.

Meanwhile, the economic situation of EU citizens seems to have worsened, compared to last year, as 60 percent said they are personally affected by the crisis, a five-point increase on 2009.

In the Netherlands, the percentage doubled from 20 to 40 percent, while in Romania and Bulgaria more than 80 percent said they were personally feeling the effects of the crisis. Seventy-eight percent of the Portuguese, 71 of the Spanish, and 67 of the Italians reported that they were affected by the crisis.

In terms of outlook, more than half of all Europeans feel that the economic difficulties should lead to greater commitment to build a stronger European Union. Italians, Portuguese, Bulgarians, Spaniards and Slovaks were especially favorable toward further integration.

Even as austerity measures were being adopted on both sides of the Atlantic, sparking street protests against wage and benefits cuts, an overwhelming majority of respondents in Europe (72 percent) and the US (90 percent) agreed that people are better off in a free-market economy.

The strongest pro-free-market feelings were registered in Britain (81 percent) and Germany (78 percent).

EU candidate country Turkey has shifted in its views on capitalism, with only 36 percent backing this economic model, a drop of ten points compared to last year.

A large majority of those surveyed inside the EU (78 percent) and Turkey (55 percent) continue to agree that the government has an essential role to play in regulating the market. The French, British and Portuguese are the strongest backers of government intervention, while the Americans are the least enthusiastic about it.

EU in the world

The role of the EU on the world stage, the main topic for leaders to discuss on Thursday, is secondary to the US, the GMF survey shows. Over 80 percent of Europeans predicted that the United States is likely to exert strong leadership in the future, while 75 percent also saw a leadership role for the EU.

Europeans and Americans are divided about the role Asia would play in global affairs. Seven-in-ten respondents in America found it very likely that China will exert strong leadership in the future, while only a third of Europeans thought the same scenario is very likely. EU respondents are also more likely than Americans to describe their relations with China as good.

When asked about India, the majority of EU respondents (54 percent) thought it was unlikely that the world's most populous democracy will exert strong leadership in world affairs five years from now, while 74 percent of Americans believed the opposite.

IEA says: Go green now, save €11 trillion later

The International Energy Agency finds that the clean energy investment needed to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius warming saves $12 trillion [€11.3 trillion] in fuel expenditure — and creates double the amount of jobs lost in fossil fuel-related industries.

Opinion

How do you make embarrassing EU documents 'disappear'?

The EU Commission's new magic formula for avoiding scrutiny is simple. You declare the documents in question to be "short-lived correspondence for a preliminary exchange of views" and thus exempt them from being logged in the official inventory.

Latest News

  1. EU women promised new dawn under anti-violence pact
  2. Three steps EU can take to halt Azerbaijan's mafia-style bullying
  3. Punish Belarus too for aiding Putin's Ukraine war
  4. Added-value for Russia diamond ban, as G7 and EU prepare sanctions
  5. EU states to agree on asylum crisis bill, say EU officials
  6. Poland's culture of fear after three years of abortion 'ban'
  7. Time for a reset: EU regional funding needs overhauling
  8. Germany tightens police checks on Czech and Polish border

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  2. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  2. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  3. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  4. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us