Hey Pearly, I'd be interested in your take on this Euro-poll. Have you seen anything like this floating around on the Euro press? I find it interesting that Britons can't muster up much more enthusiasm for the the EU than "Indifference, Hope, Mistrust." C'mon now, join us Rustic Bumpkins and become the 52nd state. Love to have you. :o}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Mon 21 Oct 2002
6:42pm (UK)
Terror Threat Tops Europeans' Fears - Poll
By Geoff Meade, Europe Editor, PA News, in Brussels
news.scotsman.com
The threat of terrorism now tops the list of fears amongst most Europeans, a survey showed today.
In the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington in September last year, an average 78% are most alarmed about an upsurge in terrorist activity.
The risk of world war worries 51% of people in the 15 EU countries, with a nuclear accident the main concern of 64% of people.
The survey, conducted in April, ranks organised crime as the second most-feared threat, worrying 71% of people.
The risk of conventional warfare in Europe is a major concern for only 44%.
The survey also reveals low levels of trust in Europe’s political parties, with an average 39% expressing trust in governments in power. In Britain the figure is only 33%, with France registering the lowest rating at just 30%.
There is a poor opinion of trade unions too, with an EU average of only 38% expressing trust in them. The armed forces (68%), the police (65%), and charities (58%) get respectable “trust ratings” but there is less faith in religious bodies (42% trust them) and big companies (34%).
Nowhere is the print media more reviled than in the UK, where only 20% in the survey expressed trust, compared with 44% in the EU as a whole. Across Europe the radio is the most trusted media form, registering a 61% trust rating.
But despite their fears and suspicions EU citizens are optimistic, with an average 83% satisfied with their lives – and 88% in the UK.
That satisfaction does not necessarily extend to the EU, with only 53% on average thinking membership is a good thing. It gets the highest rating in Luxembourg (81%) and in Ireland (78%), and the lowest in the UK, where 21% think EU membership is a bad thing.
Only 36% in the UK think the country has benefited from membership, compared with a modest 51% average across the EU and a high of 86% in Ireland.
If the European Union were scrapped tomorrow, 47% of Britons would not care, compared with a 44% EU average. Most surprisingly the highest rating is in Belgium, a founding EU member state generally seen as one of the most integrationist of the fifteen countries.
The Belgian economy has benefited hugely from the creation of the EU, with most of its institutions sited in the capital, and yet 57% of Belgians would not mind if the Union disappeared.
When asked to sum up their feelings about the EU in one word, most of the survey sample in the member states plumped for “hope”. In Holland the preferred choice was “trust”.
In the UK the favourite word was ... “indifference”.
The top three most frequently-mentioned personal feelings about the EU are –
Belgium – Hope, Trust, Indifference
Denmark – Hope, Trust, Mistrust
Germany – Hope, Trust, Anxiety
Greece – Hope, Trust, Anxiety
Spain – Hope, Trust, Indifference
France – Hope, Trust, Anxiety
Ireland – Hope, Enthusiasm, Indifference
Italy – Hope, Trust, Enthusiasm
Luxembourg – Hope, Trust, Enthusiasm
Netherlands– Trust, Hope, Indifference
Austria – Hope, Trust, Anxiety
Portugal – Hope, Trust, Indifference
Finland – Hope, Trust, Indifference
Sweden – Hope, Trust, Anxiety
UK – Indifference, Hope, Mistrust. |
