I cannot access the poll - I get the message “page not found”. Still, I can live with that.
First off the bat - 50% acceptance of the Euro here in Germany is not a majority.
Second - A majority want to integrate “quicker or at the same pace”? Sounds like a stich-up there (;)). How about if you say “slower or at the same pace”? This will tell the full story.
Second - Now I’m really confused. This survey claims that a majority support further integration, but only 54% support continued membership? Eh? Something does not sound right here.
Third - Compare and contrast the following two statements:
“The poll also shows that only/as much as 50% of the electorate supports the expansion plans into the East.”
“In the EU as a whole, and in every country except Finland, more people favoured further enlargement than opposed it.”
Hmmm… something does not sound quite right about the numbers here. The survey contradicts itself. Perhaps the questions are not very clear?
I am starting to doubt it, especially since it seems to fly against national opinion polls I have seen in the UK and Germany.
So, I will choose the statistic about 54% supporting continued membership.
The OP was: Do Europeans really want to be part of the EU?
Apparantly, only 54% of them do.
Actually I realise the poll to which I linked cannot be the poll referred to in the OP. “My” poll was published in April 2002, whereas the news item dates from December 2001.
These polls are conducted every six months, so my guess is that the news item relates to the previous version of the poll. Any discrepancy in figures probably relates to changes in public opinion between the two polls.
I grant that, strictly speaking, it is not correct to say that the 50% of Germans who favour the euro constitute “a majority”. What we can say is that those favouring the euro greatly outnumber those opposed to it, and your earlier statement that in Germany “people didn’t want the euro” is not born out by the current figures.
The honorable opposition seam to favor full on direct democracy across its board. In my previous somewhat tongue in cheek example of the Swiss and suffrage I was trying to point out that experience shows that this might not be the best way forward. But fine, that is an altogether different debate.
sirjamespI took for granted that the 54% figure alone would show that this is a significant majority. First of all it’s not all yes or no and second of all just because the majority in for instance the UK feels one way that might only impact the average across the EU slightly. This was also your mistake in trying to weed out the figures without the poll.
In other words, it goes to argue that there is always a neutral portion in a survey of this kind. When I check, this is exactly the case. Only 11% think that membership is a bad idea, while the remaining 35% think it’s neither good nor bad. That answers the title question in the OP I think. But we have moved further on, we are now in the territory of federalism vs. free market. In itself this is a little weird as a debate. The Union is way beyond a free market since over a decade. Pending Irelands ratification of the Treaty of Nice we are practically a federation. The poll does take for granted that integration in this direction is a fact. It asks for a perceived rate of integration and a desired rate of integration, both on a scale from 1-7. The perceived rate is 4.1 and the desired is rate is 4.8. Even in the UK the figure for desired speed is higher at 4.0 than the perceived speed of 3.9, while only Denmark and Finland show a desired slower than perceived rate (I knew that we should never have let those guys get away with independence!).
For the rest I’ll leave it up to the interested to read the poll.
By asking questions about the EU’s role in issues that are by definition federal such as common foreign and defense policy, common law enforcement and constitutional issues, the poll conclusively indicates that a significant majority of Europeans are pro a Federal European Union, and that they believe it should happen faster than it is.
xerxes I see your points. I don’t think the Euro and monetary policy influences our debate though, it’s just part of it. Re both the ‘failing’ UK democracy and ‘retreating to the Island Kingdom’ that was said in jest and no offense was intended.
There is still much room for debate about other issues we touched upon here, but as regards the OP title question, can we move on now?
Sparc
PS. Good thing we didn’t make this a GQ sirjamesp eh! DS.
We kindly thank the Dutch embassy for their constructive input and cordially invite them to expand their view as regards their position and the implied consequences for the Netherlands, the EU and the Euro at their convenience. Further, we commend the Dutch embassy for brevity and the deft use of rhyme and wit in their rhetoric.
DS.