Are Germans really opposed to bailouts?
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refusal to dig deep to help indebted eurozone countries is commonly explained by two feelings attributed to German voters – an ingrained fear of inflation and a reluctance to bail out those in trouble. But polling suggests the picture is more complex.
European Unity on the Rocks
In Europe, there is a crisis of confidence in the economy, in the future, in the benefits of European economic integration, in EU membership, in the euro and in the free market system. The crisis has also exposed sharp differences between some Europeans, especially the Germans and Greeks.
Chapter 1. National Conditions and Economic Ratings
The persistence and depth of the European economic downturn triggered by the euro crisis has had a profoundly adverse impact on most Europeans’ attitudes toward the condition of their national economies. People are almost universally dissatisfied with the state of their nations. Only the Germans are satisfied with the direction of their country and the […]
Chapter 2. Views of European Unity
The euro crisis has led Europeans to become very judgmental about elements of the European project: economic integration, membership in the European Union, the EU as an institution, the European Central Bank and use of the euro as their currency. But, as yet, euro zone publics want to keep the euro. As economic conditions have […]
Chapter 4. Views of EU Countries and Leaders
The euro crisis has hit the southern European nations surveyed (Greece, Italy and Spain) much harder than the northern (Britain, France and Germany) or eastern countries, (Poland and the Czech Republic). But it is Greece’s reputation, more than that of Italy and Spain, that has suffered the most in the eyes of the public. German […]