Half of Europeans think the EU could collapse within next 20 years
MORE than half of Europeans believe the EU could collapse within ten to 20 years, a poll revealed yesterday.
When asked if there was a ‘realistic possibility’ of the bloc disintegrating in the next two decades, a majority of those in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Greece, the Czech Republic and Poland said yes.
The survey for the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECRF) think-tank, covering 14 countries, also found three in ten voters believed a war between member states is a ‘realistic possibility’. This was a particularly strong belief among those planning to vote for far-Right parties.
The findings will spark jitters in Brussels where EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has led warnings not to side with populists in the vote. The European Parliament’s polling has shown as many as a third of seats could be taken by eurosceptics.
The YouGov survey paints a bleak picture for French president Emmanuel Macron, whose La Republique En Marche party is trailing behind Marine Le Pen’s far-Right, eurosceptic National Rally, ahead of next week’s European elections.
The survey found 58 per cent of people in France believe the EU is very likely or fairly likely to fall apart within 20 years, second only to Slovakia on 66 per cent.
The proportion was also 58 per cent in Italy, where hard-Right interior minister Matteo Salvini’s League party could make gains next week, and in Poland, currently ruled by the Law and Justice party which has clashed with Brussels.
The countries polled represent more than 0 per cent of European Parliament seats. Only in Sweden (44 per cent), Denmark (41) and Spain (40) did the proportion predicting collapse fall below a majority.
Meanwhile, another survey for the parliament found two-thirds of Europeans have positive feelings for the EU – the highest since 1983. The ECFR’s Mark Leonard said: ‘There are seven days to resolve the paradox at the heart of the European project.’