‘Support for EU falling sharply’
A new survey shows popular support for the European Union has fallen sharply, with France being the most dispirited member state.
The report published by Pew Global on Tuesday revealed the favorable opinion of the EU across the surveyed member states has slumped from a median of 60 percent in 2012 to 45 percent in 2013.
The research center asked 7,646 citizens in eight EU countries including Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Poland and the Czech Republic about their views on the EU.
The country, which showed the largest change of favoring the EU, was France who had a 19-percent decline from 60 percent in 2012 to only 41 percent this year.
France also registered the biggest drop of 14 points regarding the support for further economic EU integration in the country with only 22 percent in favor from 36 percent the previous year.
Germany registered the highest percentage of backing for Brussels to deal with the current economic crisis with its 54-percent support compared to Greece™s and Italy™s 11-percent, respectively.
œThe prolonged economic crisis has created centrifugal forces that are pulling European public opinion apart, separating the French from the Germans and the Germans from everyone else,” said Pew Global.
It continued by saying œthe southern member states Spain, Italy and Greece are becoming even more estranged as evidenced by their frustration with Brussels….”
According to the report, there is a great pessimism regarding the EU among most member nations, even among the youth, who are œthe hope for the EU™s future.”
The International Monetary Fund has forecasted that the EU economy will not grow this year and will continue to perform under its pre-crisis average in 2018, read the report.
CAH/PR/SS
This article originally appeared on : Press TV
Source: http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/support-for-eu-falling-sharply/33496/
