>
> **Europeans view EU more positively than their home countries**
>
> Good morning. A scoop to start: Brussels is considering a mandatory ban on member states using companies such as China’s Huawei deemed to present a security risk in their 5G networks, officials told the Financial Times, ahead of a report detailing that only a third of EU countries have followed recommendations to ban Huawei from critical parts of their communication networks.
>
> Do you trust in the EU more than your own government? My colleague crunches data showing that’s true for most. And Laura has the latest from Brussels’ anti-fraud watchdog (and its crackdown on eel smugglers).
>
> **Europe expects**
>
> As Oscar Wilde said, the only thing in life worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
>
> So Eurocrats and MEPs will be glad that a poll yesterday showed 71 per cent of citizens are aware of their existence and the impact of their decisions on ordinary people’s lives. Elections next year will show whether they think the impact is benign or malign, writes Andy Bounds.
>
> Context: The European parliament has conducted its latest Eurobarometer survey. The war in Ukraine, high energy prices and spiralling inflation have raised the EU’s profile — and, the pollsters say, raised expectations that it can deal with these issues.
>
> But officials fret that those expectations could prove hard to meet.
>
> For now, EU lawmakers are more popular than national governments, although still not that popular. The poll, conducted in March, found that 32 per cent of people believe that Europe is going “in the right direction”, compared with just 26 per cent who believe that to be true for their own country.
>
> However, 47 per cent believe Europe is going in the wrong direction. And a shocking 61 per cent said that was true for their own country.
>
> Support for Ukraine remained strong, with 69 per cent approving of the EU’s policy. “War fatigue is not apparent in the polls,” said Jaume Duch, the EU parliament’s spokesperson.
>
> Interest in the elections is higher than it was last time. Around two-thirds would vote in an election next week, compared with 58 per cent before the 2019 ballot.
>
> That vote boosted the Greens and centrists and resulted in ambitious laws to curb climate change. Other national polls in Germany, Spain and elsewhere, have pointed to gains for populists this time. Interest in the elections has risen most in the Netherlands, where a rebellion against EU climate legislation’s impact on farmers propelled the upstart Farmer Citizen Movement to a win in provincial elections.
>
> And the top priority for citizens is fighting poverty and social exclusion, not an area over which the EU has much power.
>
> “People expect the European level to deliver,” said Philipp Schulmeister, parliament’s head of campaigns. What will happen next June if it cannot?
> Roughly 60 per cent of Europeans think their country should remain neutral in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and not support US efforts to defend the island, according to a new poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations on China, the US and EU defence issues.
> **Fraud busters**
>
> As the EU still grapples with the consequences of the “Qatargate” corruption scandal in the European parliament, its anti-fraud watchdog has said it closed almost 20 investigations into parliamentary staff last year, writes Laura Dubois.
>
> Context: The anti-fraud office Olaf is in charge of investigating misuse of the EU’s €2tn budget, and corruption and misconduct inside the parliament, the European Commission and other institutions.
>
> In its annual report published yesterday, Olaf revealed that it closed 40 investigations into EU staff last year. Top was the European parliament, with 18 cases closed, followed by the commission with seven cases.
>
> The cases included false declarations of expenses, undeclared activities outside the staff member’s role, or harassment, Olaf said.
>
> In some cases, the watchdog issued a recommendation for disciplinary procedures — such as in the case of parliamentary assistants being paid for missions they never attended. In others, it recommended member states should open judicial proceedings, for instance in the case of an MEP employing an assistant who had another full-time job.
>
> Overall, the body recommended that about €427mn should be recovered, and prevented the misuse of some €198mn.
>
> That also includes addressing the circumvention of sanctions against Russia and Belarus, for which Olaf is monitoring unusual movements of goods and customs data. This way, it can for instance detect sanctions-hit goods entering the EU.
>
> But Olaf also fights more traditional fraud and smuggling, and that’s by no means boring. One operation included fighting the trafficking of endangered glass eels, and the watchdog uncovered that an estimated 46 per cent of honey imported into the EU had been tampered with.
>
Certainly true of the U.K.
Of course they do. Even most crazy conspiracy theorists can see the extremely positive economical influence of EU.
As for the rest…. I wonder what is opinion of country like Hungary. Their leader is probably the biggest anti EU person in entire Europe Union. I am sure many Hungerians believe in his conspiracies about “eurocrats” and Brussels sprouts.
That’s a good step towards a more united Europe.
I view the US more positively than my own state.
The title is so misleading *sigh*…
Well, more think EU is going in a better direction than their home country BUT a large plurality/majority believes both are going in the wrong direction overall, that’s not good news.
We have a joke in Spain.
We’ve a uncaring, rude and distrusted burocracy out here…an the European Commission the protect us of it XD
Misleading title, Europeans view EU government more positively than their national government. Which is not saying much considering most Europeans hate their national governments.
8 comments
>
> **Europeans view EU more positively than their home countries**
>
> Good morning. A scoop to start: Brussels is considering a mandatory ban on member states using companies such as China’s Huawei deemed to present a security risk in their 5G networks, officials told the Financial Times, ahead of a report detailing that only a third of EU countries have followed recommendations to ban Huawei from critical parts of their communication networks.
>
> Do you trust in the EU more than your own government? My colleague crunches data showing that’s true for most. And Laura has the latest from Brussels’ anti-fraud watchdog (and its crackdown on eel smugglers).
>
> **Europe expects**
>
> As Oscar Wilde said, the only thing in life worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
>
> So Eurocrats and MEPs will be glad that a poll yesterday showed 71 per cent of citizens are aware of their existence and the impact of their decisions on ordinary people’s lives. Elections next year will show whether they think the impact is benign or malign, writes Andy Bounds.
>
> Context: The European parliament has conducted its latest Eurobarometer survey. The war in Ukraine, high energy prices and spiralling inflation have raised the EU’s profile — and, the pollsters say, raised expectations that it can deal with these issues.
>
> But officials fret that those expectations could prove hard to meet.
>
> For now, EU lawmakers are more popular than national governments, although still not that popular. The poll, conducted in March, found that 32 per cent of people believe that Europe is going “in the right direction”, compared with just 26 per cent who believe that to be true for their own country.
>
> However, 47 per cent believe Europe is going in the wrong direction. And a shocking 61 per cent said that was true for their own country.
>
> Support for Ukraine remained strong, with 69 per cent approving of the EU’s policy. “War fatigue is not apparent in the polls,” said Jaume Duch, the EU parliament’s spokesperson.
>
> Interest in the elections is higher than it was last time. Around two-thirds would vote in an election next week, compared with 58 per cent before the 2019 ballot.
>
> That vote boosted the Greens and centrists and resulted in ambitious laws to curb climate change. Other national polls in Germany, Spain and elsewhere, have pointed to gains for populists this time. Interest in the elections has risen most in the Netherlands, where a rebellion against EU climate legislation’s impact on farmers propelled the upstart Farmer Citizen Movement to a win in provincial elections.
>
> And the top priority for citizens is fighting poverty and social exclusion, not an area over which the EU has much power.
>
> “People expect the European level to deliver,” said Philipp Schulmeister, parliament’s head of campaigns. What will happen next June if it cannot?
> Chart du jour: Defend Taiwan?
>
> https://i.imgur.com/DPsBUCg.png
> Roughly 60 per cent of Europeans think their country should remain neutral in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and not support US efforts to defend the island, according to a new poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations on China, the US and EU defence issues.
> **Fraud busters**
>
> As the EU still grapples with the consequences of the “Qatargate” corruption scandal in the European parliament, its anti-fraud watchdog has said it closed almost 20 investigations into parliamentary staff last year, writes Laura Dubois.
>
> Context: The anti-fraud office Olaf is in charge of investigating misuse of the EU’s €2tn budget, and corruption and misconduct inside the parliament, the European Commission and other institutions.
>
> In its annual report published yesterday, Olaf revealed that it closed 40 investigations into EU staff last year. Top was the European parliament, with 18 cases closed, followed by the commission with seven cases.
>
> The cases included false declarations of expenses, undeclared activities outside the staff member’s role, or harassment, Olaf said.
>
> In some cases, the watchdog issued a recommendation for disciplinary procedures — such as in the case of parliamentary assistants being paid for missions they never attended. In others, it recommended member states should open judicial proceedings, for instance in the case of an MEP employing an assistant who had another full-time job.
>
> Overall, the body recommended that about €427mn should be recovered, and prevented the misuse of some €198mn.
>
> That also includes addressing the circumvention of sanctions against Russia and Belarus, for which Olaf is monitoring unusual movements of goods and customs data. This way, it can for instance detect sanctions-hit goods entering the EU.
>
> But Olaf also fights more traditional fraud and smuggling, and that’s by no means boring. One operation included fighting the trafficking of endangered glass eels, and the watchdog uncovered that an estimated 46 per cent of honey imported into the EU had been tampered with.
>
Certainly true of the U.K.
Of course they do. Even most crazy conspiracy theorists can see the extremely positive economical influence of EU.
As for the rest…. I wonder what is opinion of country like Hungary. Their leader is probably the biggest anti EU person in entire Europe Union. I am sure many Hungerians believe in his conspiracies about “eurocrats” and Brussels sprouts.
That’s a good step towards a more united Europe.
I view the US more positively than my own state.
The title is so misleading *sigh*…
Well, more think EU is going in a better direction than their home country BUT a large plurality/majority believes both are going in the wrong direction overall, that’s not good news.
We have a joke in Spain.
We’ve a uncaring, rude and distrusted burocracy out here…an the European Commission the protect us of it XD
Misleading title, Europeans view EU government more positively than their national government. Which is not saying much considering most Europeans hate their national governments.