European Review Issue 38 page 3

EUROPEAN REVIEW

ISSUE 38 - Page 3

EU reality checks itself in ‘social stock-taking’
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, MUCH CONCERNED BY the apparent gap between itself and EU citizens following the rejection of the proposed constitution by French and Dutch voters in 2005, has carried out a ‘social stock-taking’ to find out how things really are in Europe. Part of its ‘Citizens’ Agenda’, the exercise has now produced an independent consultation paper as well as an enlarged edition of the usual Eurobarometer poll, the ‘European Social Reality’ survey.
Among the findings are that most people in the EU are happy in their personal life, where the family is their main support, and satisfied with their job situation. Transport, schools and health services all score over 70% approval ratings. Is there anything to spoil this land of milk and honey? Well, poverty and unemployment still feature largely in citizens’ fears. The survey confirms previous findings that over half of Europeans believe unemployment to be one of the two most important issues facing their country and over 60% think that everybody is at risk of falling into poverty at some time in their lives. People obviously do not credit politicians for their happiness, on average less than a third said that they trusted the government and parliament in their country although only 43% thought that politics was important. The survey results do not make heartening reading for trade unions either, only 4% of respondents across the EU took an active part in a union. The figures differ greatly between Member States in almost all categories. Perhaps not surprisingly the richer countries seem to have the happier people. Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland top the list while Greece, Italy and Portugal are bottom of the ‘old’ EU 15. Only new entrant Bulgaria has more dissatisfied than satisfied citizens.

Migration was another topic raised by the poll. The results were balanced as a majority thought that ‘People from other ethnic groups are enriching the cultural life of our country’ and nearly half agreed that ‘We need immigrants to work in certain sectors of our economy’, only slightly less believed that ‘The presence of people from other ethnic groups increases unemployment’. Younger people and those towards the top of the social scale tended to be more ‘pro-migrant’ while the UK was below halfway in this league which the Nordic countries topped.
This was backed up recently in a separate survey of attitudes in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the UK in which Britons were the most likely to agree that migration was having a negative effect on the economy. Spain emerged as the most in favour of immigration of the major EU nations as well as the country to which most workers would like to move.

You can comment on social conditions in the EU at:

http://ec.europa.eu/citizens_agenda/social_reality_stocktaking/index_en.htm

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