60 Years of ‘Europe’ – a Success Story?
Global study shows many around the world see merits of European project, but support under pressure in core Member States. 60 years ago, on 25 March 1957, Belgium, France, West-Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community, the legal basis of today’s European Union (EU).
A major new Ipsos survey across 25 countries worldwide shows that the global public sees some reasons to celebrate, with on average half considering the European project to have made Europe stronger. The survey, among online adults aged under 65 in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States also finds people almost twice as likely to say the project has more success than failures (by 34% to 19%), although around one in four say the positives and negatives cancel each other out. In the nine EU countries in the survey, people are most likely to praise the contributions the European project has made over the last 60 years to the ease of travel and trade between European countries, and the peaceful relationships between the European nations.
However, past successes notwithstanding, Europeans are anxious about the future – a majority (57%) believe that the EU is heading in the wrong direction. Moreover, when looking at the individual country level, it appears that in Belgium, France and Italy, three countries that stood at the basis of the European project, many doubt about its achievements and benefits.
European project a success?
Over half (53%) people across the 25 countries worldwide think the European project has made Europe stronger, compared to 1 in 7 (14%) who think it has made Europe weaker. The proportion who think it made Europe stronger is somewhat lower in EU countries (46%) – with people in Belgium, Italy and France being the least positive.
A third (34%) of people across the 25 countries believe that, taking everything into account, the European project over the past 60 years has had more successes than failures, compared to a fifth (19%) who think the opposite. In four countries people see more failures than successes – this includes Russia and founding Member States Belgium, France and Italy.
Close to three quarters (73%) of people in the nine European countries are positive about the European project’s contribution to the ease of travel in Europe and close to two thirds (64%) are positive about its contribution to trade between European nations. A clear majority (58%) of Europeans approve of the positive contribution the European project made to the peaceful relationships between the European nations.
Countries diverge in their opinion on the impact of the European project on standard of living – in Poland, Spain and Germany around half or more (56%, 48% and 47%, respectively) think this impact was positive; in Belgium, Italy and France, on the other hand, less than three in ten think this impact was positive (29%, 25% and 20%, respectively).
Europe on the wrong track?
When asked if they would say things across the European Union are heading in the right direction or are off on the wrong track, nearly 6 out of 10 (57%) on average across the nine European countries think the European Union is off on the wrong track. This figure varies between 45% in Germany and 69% in Belgium.
In most European countries, a majority of people think the EU made the effects of the economic crisis in their country worse – exceptions are Hungary and Poland (both non-Eurozone countries).
On average across all 25 countries, just over half of people (53%) agree that together the EU countries are stronger in solving global problems.
Europeans themselves are divided: close to two thirds (64%) of people in Poland and 6 out of 10 of people in Spain and Germany (62% and 61% respectively) agree that together, the countries of the European Union are stronger in solving global problems; in contrast, in Italy, Belgium and France, only around a third share this opinion (35%, 34% and 32%, respectively).
Looking to the future
Europeans think the EU’s most important priorities should be:
- reducing poverty and social inequality,
- fighting organised crime and terrorism,
- creating economic growth and jobs,
- reducing illegal immigration,
- fighting tax fraud and evasion.
These top priorities are fairly similar across European countries.
Close to two thirds (65%) of Europeans believe that the countries of the European Union should cooperate more to reduce illegal immigration from outside the EU. A similar proportion (64%) think the countries of the European Union should reduce the flow of refugees by acting to stop conflicts in their countries of origin.
Majorities in all European countries are in favour of buying less energy from non-EU countries. Half (50%) of Europeans are in favour of directly electing the President of the European Commission, whilst most others are undecided.
