EU in the dog house

The solidarity of the EU is fragile and paper thin! Just look at
these examples of brotherly love!

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EUROPEAN FOUNDATION INTELLIGENCE DIGEST - August 2008
EU in the dog house

Lisbon is not the only one of the EU’s woes: the Union’s approval
rating is plummeting rapidly across the whole of Europe. Indeed, if
all EU states were to vote tomorrow on EU membership, the Union could
collapse. According to Euro barometer, the regular opinion polls
conducted by the Commission, fewer and fewer citizens think that EU
membership is a good thing. According to the latest findings of Euro
barometer, only a thin majority of 52 per cent of Europeans still
think that EU membership is a good thing. This is down from 57 per
cent in the Autumn of 2007. Only 48 per cent think the EU has a good
image. (Oddly enough, one of the countries with the highest pro-EU
opinion poll finding is Ireland. 73 per cent of those polled said
they were in favour of EU membership.)

The countries where only a minority think that EU membership is a
good thing include France (48 per cent), Greece (47 per cent),
Finland (44 per cent), Italy (39 per cent), Austria (36 per cent),
Britain (30 per cent), Hungary (32 per cent) and – last of all –
Latvia with 29 per cent. Only 30 per cent of Croats think EU
membership is a good thing although the Croatian government has
talked about little but accession for years.
[ http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm, only in German at
the time of writing]

A poll on the web site of Die Welt offered readers four choices about
the EU: “it is wonderful”; “it has advantages and disadvantages”; “it
is pretty bad”; “I wish Germany would leave”. The highest score was
for “I wish Germany would leave” – 51 per cent. Nineteen per cent
said the EU was pretty bad and only 27 per cent said it had
advantages and disadvantages. (Three per cent said it was wonderful.)

In Austria, the former leader of the (Christian Democrat) Austrian
People’s Party (ÖVP), Erhard Busek, has suggested that Austria hold a
referendum on whether the country should stay in the EU. Busek blamed
Austrian politicians for always blaming the EU when things go wrong,
saying that this had now had an effect on public opinion. Naturally
Busek wants a referendum to produce a positive pro-EU result and for
there to be an end to “populism” (i.e. anti-EU rhetoric). “We would
have to say, ‘you will have to show your passport at the border again
and obviously the euro will disappear.’” (Busek is being dishonest
here. In reality, neither passport-free travel nor the euro is
connected to EU membership. One can have the euro without being in
the EU – Kosovo and Montenegro have it – and one can belong to
Schengen without being in the EU – Norway and Iceland are members of
Schengen but not of the EU.) [Der Standard, Vienna, 15 July 2008]

The Foreign Minister of Austria, Ursula Plassnik, immediately
rebuffed his suggestion. “There is no point having such a
referendum,” said Plassnik the next day, claiming that “two thirds of
Austrians” want to remain in the EU. She rejected the view expressed
by the representative of the EU Commission in Austria that “the roof
is on fire”, a reference to the rising unpopularity of the EU in
Austria, and said that the situation was not nearly as bad as he
suggested. [Der Standard, 16 July 2008]

EU Parliament President: Germany would vote against Lisbon
The President of the European Parliament, the veteran federalist Hans-
Georg Pöttering, has said that it is quite possible that the Germans
would vote against Lisbon if they were given the chance. He still,
however, repeated the well-worn German line that Ireland, a single
country, should not be allowed to hold up “the majority” – even
though that majority has not been allowed to vote. [Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung, 23 June 2008]

German MEP wants Poland thrown out of EU
An FDP-Liberal politician in Germany, Silvana Koch-Merin, has said
that Poland should be thrown out of the EU if it does ratify the
Treaty of Lisbon. Her outburst came in response to the announcement
by the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, that he would not sign the
Lisbon Treaty following the rejection of it by Ireland. He said that
discussion about Lisbon was “for the time being meaningless” given
the Irish rejection; he also said that it was nonsense to claim that
the EU could not function without the Lisbon Treaty. He also warned
against violating the rule about unanimity. (At the EU summit in
Paris on 13–14 July, he seemed to backtrack on this and said that
Poland would not stand in the way of ratification, presumably if
Ireland votes again.) Koch-Merin said, “It is the era of populism:
the Polish President is again causing trouble over Europe. I believe
that the EU should not hold back but should state clearly that a
country is either a member of the EU on the basis of the Lisbon
Treaty or it is not.” She said that if Poland chose another path then
different forms of cooperation with it would be found. [Die Welt, 2
July 2008]

Greek President attacks EU
In an interview with Der Standard in Vienna, the Greek President,
Karolos Papoulias, has said that the EU has lost face with the
peoples of Europe following the Irish rejection of Lisbon. On the
occasion of a state visit to Austria, Mr Papoulias said, “It is of
especial importance that the result in all three countries in which a
referendum was held, the result was negative. This is a fact which
should be a matter of concern to all Europeans. It should be that
citizens are dissatisfied, evidently not so much because of
individual questions but because of the general direction which
Europe is taking. This is particularly clear with social-political
themes and in the protection of jobs.” He went on, “I believe in a
Europe which has a balancing role to play in the international system
and in a Europe which is advanced in its integration. However, this
cannot take place if Europe has lost its legitimacy with its
peoples.” [Der Standard, 2 July 2008]