Is Britain well liked in Europe?

[clairobscur]

@Mops

For a somewhat representative more representative sample than this threads’s posts I loooked around and found a survey for the BBC World Service - with worldwide scope which means in europe only the UK, Germany, France and Spain were sampled.

http://www.globescan.com/images/images/pressreleases/bbc2012_country_ratings/2012_bbc_country%20rating%20final%20080512.pdf

UK’s influence “mainly positive”: UK 71 %/Germany 53 %/France 52 %/Spain 49 %
Germany’s influence “mainly positive”: UK 70 %/Germany 67 %/France 80 %/Spain 60 %
France’s influence “mainly positive”: UK 47 %/Germany 72 %/France 75 %/Spain 43 %

However, I note when reading the linked study that opinions seem to change widely from one year to the other. For instance :

Although views of the US were little changed since 2011, there have been some sharp regional swings, with positive views rising in Europe (France from 46 to 62%, UK from 38 to 57%, Spain 41 to 51% and Germany 37 to 44%), but dropping in South America (Chile 62 to 47%, Brazil 64 to 55%, and Peru 53 to 46%).

So, the figures you give, though more objectives than statements by random posters, seem to only show the mood of the moment, subject to wide variations probably depending on political events or such.

[SanVito]

@Simple_Linctus

And Denmark is very popular in the UK too. Thanks for the butter and bacon (and in Copenhagen itself, Christiana!)

And Sarah Lund! We LOVE Danish TV.

Second series of Borgen started this week. Happy!

[SanVito]

@Rune

The British EU scepticism is also quite popular with a large part of the population. Please don’t leave the EU and leave us all alone with all the EU-crats.

LOL, don’t worry, whatever bluster David Cameron may come out with, we aren’t leaving the EU. We will continue to stay and moan about it with you.

[R3d_Anonymous]

Define “liked”.

[Ryan_Liam]

There seems to be natural affinities in Europe which are entrenched by mutual economic interest, for instance, the French German alignment is probably the driving force of the European project, and I don’t see a similar bond between two European countries which rivals that.

For the last couple of decades, while it seems the average mainland European doesn’t have prejudice against the British, it does seem apparent that this is not reflected by their respective governments, and this approach to the UK is irrespective of if we have a Labour government or Conservative government.