Record 60% of Europeans 'tend not to trust' EU

It is easy for Mr Barroso to blame others, but we the citizens where do we stand, were are we taking part in EU affers. We find tailered suits ready for us, if we like them or not we have to fit in them.
How much are our goverments are willing to inform the people about the EU. Before joining we were promised heaven on earth, now not even a single flyer.As a mater of fact, we are worse then before joining.The topics of the days are local politics, religion, and advertizing, meaning the those who advertize are in a bad situation, otherwise who will spend if he is doing well.Even the Eu MEP's are not interested, when ever they write, their articles are about local politics to support their party.

The disillusionment will continue to grow .
i can see the EU continuing blindly even when almost the total EU population distrusts and is against it .

Jan,

Some figures for you before you get too happy about how the EU has saved Greece etc.

At the point of the collapse of the banking sector Icelandic debt was 9.553trillion krona, GDP was 1.293trillion. Debt was therefore 738%. (Figures from Statistics Iceland 11/09/2008). Greek debt as percentage of GDP reached a maximum of 170.3% in December 2011 (these and subsequent figures from Eurostat) and is currently 160.5%, Ireland is at 125.1% (and still rising, up 18% in the last quarter), Spain 85.3%, Italy 126.1% and Portugal 123.6%.

Iceland outside the helpful embrace of the EU acted in the interests of its citizens rather than the financiers who acted as if their high return investments came without risk. They protected domestic depositors and refused to pass the debts incurred by the investors onto the local tax payers, much to the anger of the UK and The Netherlands amongst others. They defaulted on their debts and then went on to devalue their currency by approximately 50%. Painful for the Icelanders without doubt, but pain which they calculated would be relatively short lived.

So today we find Iceland has an unemployment level of 5.5%, compared with the EZ at 12.2% and the EU 11%, with Spain and Greece at a truly horrific 26.8%. Iceland had growth of 1.6% last year, in the EZ -0.6%, EU -0.4%, Spain -1.4 and Greece -4.2%. Indeed Iceland has had growth since 2011, if only the same could be said for the EZ / EU. What would the Club Med countries say about figures like this?

Finally on the 9th June 2011 (less than 3 years after the collapse) Iceland returned to the international bond market, selling $1bn worth of bonds at 4.875%. Essentially their situation has stabilised, they have hope and matters are progressing. Anyone see the same situation in the EU periphery countries ?

It is entirely possible to argue that the steps taken by the EU / ECB and IMF together with the manic desire to keep the euro zone together regardless of the damage it does to ordinary people has done much to create and exacerbate the problems in many countries. Indeed the IMF came extremely close to accepting just such an accusation in relation to Greece on 5th June 2013 (http://www.euractiv.com/euro-finance/imf-sorry-greek-crisis-handling-news-528355 )

As to the UK, I agree absolutely, let’s have a vote and settle down to a simple trading arrangement with the rest of the EU to the mutual benefit of both parties, but without the political aspirations of the remainder of the EU.

Jan,

The well organised, disciplined Nordic country ran up debts of 738% of GDP, something no other country has managed. The debt amounted to 170,650 euro per person as compared to 32,824 euro for Greece. You describe Iceland as being able to “mobilise the moral and political resources to get out of a difficult situation” and implicitly doubt the ability of Greece and Cyprus (and presumably the other crisis countries) to do so. While Iceland did prosecute and convict bankers and even the Prime Minister, that was punishment of those responsible for the mess, it did not of itself start solving the problem.

Iceland has the benefit of being able to manage its own affairs, to default and devalue and become competitive again, something the euro countries have surrendered. Instead the euro countries put in place legally binding treaties to make sure they all complied with the regulations necessary to avoid catastrophic economic problems. Oh, but then those very same countries (only one of which ever actually met all the requirements which would have allowed them to join the currency – and that one was not even Germany) broke all the rules and suffered no sanction. Germany and France of course led the charge in terms of breaking the limits they had previously agreed to.

I would agree that several countries in the EU are suffering from endemic corruption and mismanagement; this has always been the case. The corruption and mismanagement was widely known about but ignored by those in power as inconvenient facts that should not be allowed to get in the way of the grand project so beloved by the elite, the very same elite who 60% of people now don’t trust and we are supposed to be surprised.

Please could you explain why anyone should have faith in a group whose blind personal and political ambition has over ridden basic economics (and they were repeatedly warned by so many even before the currency was launched) and has no credible plan to resolve the current crisis. The current crisis and the EU answers have a very great deal in common with the Argentinian financial collapse and subsequent response of the 1990s – 2000’s; and we all know how well that worked out for the Argentinians. Yet despite that clear example, this is the route chosen by the EU.

Finally let us not forget that these same leaders totally lack any democratic mandate for their actions.

Tackling the taxation tricks of large corporations is of course of interest to everyone. I doubt you will find many this side of the Channel who would support Starbucks etc. But this will have to be dealt with on a wider stage than the EU, after all there are many countries in Europe that are not in the EU. Given that membership of the EU is obviously not required to address this issue. But I fail to see how this impacts on the clear lack of public faith in the EU.

I genuinely wish all our European friends the very best in overcoming their problems, if only because it would help us as well. But the reality is the EU has never demonstrated any ability to deal with difficult issues, not least because of the total lack of a European demos.

The EU was a totally insane project from the start. You can have FREE TRADE, but that doesn't require ANY political integration - on the contrary: forced uniformity destroys the very reason which makes trade so interesting.

Switzerland just signed a free trade agreement with China and now with Thailand. Neither side forced the other to adapt to their own norms. That's not how it works.

Switzerland, from 1291 to 1848, was just a loose association of cantons who had mutual defense pacts. That was really all that was required.

To this day, the political and economic differences between cantons are bigger than what the EU would like to see between EU countries.

Switzerland and Norway stayed out of the EU and guess which countries do best, in Europe?

Correct: Switzerland and Norway!

All those idiots who wanted to push Switzerland into the EU, threatening "stagnation", "isolation" and "economic collapse" have grown totally silent, since the EU has an average of 12% unemployment, with youth unemployment of 24% in Sweden, 25% in France, 48% in Spain and 52% in Greece ... vs 3% for Switzerland, for both, youth and overall unemployment!

The Euro totally collapsed against the Swiss Franc and would probably be at 60 Swiss Cents if the traitors in the National Bank had not agreed to weaken our currency to prop up the Euro, creating 1 Swiss GDP (500 billion CHF) in fresh currency, out of thin air.

The main reason the EU asked Switzerland to copy their catastrophic inflation is to prevent EU citizens from realizing the true extend of wealth destruction caused by the socialist and communitarian policies that are being pushed by the ruling class throughout the continent.

Ultimately, the EU is a direct copy of the system of the USSR:

- there is the "elected" parliament, which has no power and no importance whatsoever. They are just parasitic drones who decide nothing.

- the true power lies with the unelected commissars, who are like the politburo, and the council of ministers, who impose the political program of the EU.

So basically, the EXECUTIVE of the various member countries create the laws of the EU, which are then imposed on the parliaments of the member countries, which represents a complete destruction of the principle of the separation of powers!

The Executive is NOT supposed to have the slightest influence on the legislative process.

So basically, the EU has created a de facto dictatorship, a rule by a small group of executive politicians.

And we see the entire catastrophe unleashed by this breach of the most elementary rules of parliamentarian governments.

In Switzerland, the people retain the power, through direct democracy. They could impose a SPENDING LIMIT in 2005, thanks to which government had to reduce its spending and even reduce its debt level.

Numerous referenda at the canton level imposed tax reductions, too. Not a single tax reduction ever caused the slightest harm, on the contrary - EVERY tax reduction was followed by positive outcomes, ONLY positive outcomes.

But never expect government to agree to a voluntary tax reduction.

The entire system throughout Europe needs a radical change, starting with a massive reduction of government at ALL levels. And the totally useless level is the EU.

It can be ENTIRELY abolished without even the slightest negative consequence for anyone - except the parasites who are milking the EU tax payers right now, of course.

Thanks, David ;)