UK is very pro-EU after all

EU report on UK opinon of the European Union membership and constitution

As a pro-European, this even shocks me. Especially regarding the constitution.

According to the poll, we would of voted "Yes". The trend goes against everything that has been written in the paper and the younger generation are extremely pro-european (which is a good thing).

Heck, we are apparently in favour of enlargement too!

The economic opinions, relating to the UK, is very interesting.
Overall, the report is a very good read, it doesn't matter if you are against the EU or not. I recommend reading the report.

hopefully, we'll join the Euro soon.

It does make interest reading. One thing I would like to know is the sample size.


What is interesting to the areas that the UK feel should remain national:

pensions, health and social welfare, education, defence and foreign affairs.


I wonder why our trust for EU institutions is so low. How does the preceived view of the CAP impact this view.

I am not sure infinite, that you can claim we would have voted in favour of the constitution. 30% felt is was bad and 26% were neutral. Only 39% were in favour. What happened to the remaining 5%? I think you would have to assume the worst!!

As for the benefits of being in the EU, a greater percentage felt we had not benefitted. I know, only 1% which I am sure is within the margin of error. I would put this down to the UK being a net funder of the EU.

reply to post by Freedom ERP


But the report does go against the right wing media who "claim" to think we hate the European and don't want to be apart of it.

And, the younger generation are very pro-European too (mainly because they see the benefits more). In time, our view on defence and foreign affairs will change and I think we will work with Europe more.

It does make for very interesting reading, but Freedom ERP makes a good point - it'd be good to know what size the sample was, where in the UK they were polled etc.

Though I think Britain will remain in the EU I don't think it'll be to the extent to which Infinite believes (for that to happen we'd need an overhaul of the press for a start, trying to make newspapers more independent of people like Rupert Murdoch and Viscount Rothermere) and I'm not convinced the UK should be that close to anyone.

It's true that there are a lot of negative myths floating around about the EU (you might have heard the one about the EU proposing measuring the curves on bananas or a similar story, which is completely untrue - it was invented by a group of reporters in Brussels to see what the public would believe. Nevertheless, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express like to trot this out now and again) and we need to expose them for what they are - lies. But to have an informed debate the public must be given genuine facts about areas which might be construed as a negative effect on the UK due to it being a part of the EU - let's face it, it's not all bad but it's not all good either (e.g. what would be the good points about adopting the Euro as the national currency? What would be the benefits of keeping the Pound instead?).

Therein lies the problem about having a debate about the EU - so many of the 'facts' are made up that it's difficult to separate fact from fiction. Some of the results in the document seem to suggest we listen to the tabloids a bit too much.

[edit on 14/12/07 by Ste2652]

reply to post by Ste2652


I disagree, the right wing press will be it's own downfall. Economically, we will have to move closer soon anyways. Especially with a declining dollar and the rise of China and India. Most sensible people know we need a strong EU to compeat on the new international stage.

Doesn't matter if you have a labour or conservative government, both will be willing to work with the EU.

As a fellow UK member said on ATS, he/she believed our relationship with America is driving the public more and more to the EU. Which could be a reason for why the poll showed us becoming more supportive of the EU (who know's).

I do not think that many of the UK population would want to leave totally the EU. It is the extend of the the influence of the EU on our everyday lives.

Let face, just like the UK parliament, decisions are being made as the result of lobbing by political elements and business. So just how much say do we have in the policy and direction of the EU.

I certainly agree that having a more common voice to the rest of the world on some issues such as trade is a good thing but do we want the EU to determine foreign policy? Apart from France, we are the only nation in the EU with a serious empire and still because of our past empire, we still have a great deal on influence via the Commomwealth.