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These ideological differences translate into large partisan divides on the issues. In every country surveyed, overwhelming majorities disapprove of how Brussels has dealt with the problem. France and Spain are the two nations where the favorability of the EU has recently experienced the largest decline. The Pew Research Center survey finds that in six of 10 countries more people want devolution of EU power than support the status quo or favor giving more power to the Brussels-based institution.
Conversely, there is little enthusiasm for transferring more power to Brussels. In most countries a quarter or more of the public prefers to keep the current division of power. In a number of nations men express stronger opposition than women to an ever closer union. The largest ideological gap on European division of powers is in the United Kingdom.
Notably, this right-left divide is reversed in Spain, and is especially large. This ideological split also manifests itself in the views of political party adherents. Notably, in all nine countries where the question was asked, large pluralities of people on the left, in the middle and on the right of the political spectrum say a UK exit from the EU would be a bad thing for the EU.
But the breakdown in sentiment by political party is more complex. However, National Front backers are nearly divided on the topic. The idea is to reduce unfamiliarity—to turn the new members of the EU, in the eyes of the West, from an unknown and perhaps less important part of the continent to one whose differences are seen as charming features of the European landscape. Features like the long silences of the Finns or the siestas of the Spanish are unusual perhaps but are considered profoundly European and celebrated as enriching the cultural diversity of the EU.
They produced a mostly one-way westward flow of people and knowledge. Because the West remains much wealthier than the East and has better schools, far fewer Westerners have traveled eastward. Moreover, many Easterners have stayed in the West, meaning that opportunities to help their countries of origin better understand Western mind-sets are being lost. In a free but economically uneven Europe, the flow of people and ideas will always be lopsided, but for Europe to work as one, there need to be more long-term, ingrained learning opportunities.
Central Europeans, for their part, should invest in French and English-language websites about their politics and history. But those successes did not just organically happen over time; they required a conscious effort. Informed discussions on what ails East-West relations remain rare, but the mood appears to be turning, with the Economist and other media now giving more space to, and thoughtful treatment of, the issue.
More such intelligent coverage is badly needed. When politicians and opinion-forming media perpetuate the view that the East and West are fundamentally incompatible, they lend support and credibility to the argument that the EU should divide into two classes of membership.
Some politicians will continue to hold this line for electoral gains, but there are ways to reach those who support it unwittingly. One way to improve media coverage of the East-West discourse is through generating more nonbiased research and data that pierces through the many stereotypes and generalizations surrounding the relationship.
In the age of the twenty-four-hour news cycle, opinion-forming media outlets are constantly hungry for content and would be interested in the data if it were to come from trustworthy sources, have a basis in solid research, and be timed to coincide with newsworthy events.
In the Czech Republic, a coalition of individuals, businesses, and organizations concerned about rising euroskepticism have come together to fund research into how the Czechs regard the EU and why.
The data are available to everyone who wants to their sharpen arguments regarding continued membership in the EU. Similar efforts also have sprung up in other Central European countries, even if they are mostly for local audiences and in local languages. What is needed now is a cross-boundary look at how the East and West regard each other, what underlying beliefs inform those views, and which communication strategies could most effectively bridge the divide.
That sort of research will require money and collaboration among polling agencies, think tanks, and communication experts. The president-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has shown the desire to be a bridge builder, most notably by dividing the rule of law portfolio of work between Central and Western European commissioners. If Central European leaders want to exercise more influence in Brussels—and change the perception at home that the EU does not listen to them or care—they need to start floating joint policy proposals with their Western European counterparts on issues where they see potential commonalities and shared interests.
While the Baltic governments are already closely cooperating with the Nordic governments in an informal Hanseatic League , the Central European countries influence EU policy only intermittently and at the working level in Brussels. Admittedly, the advice for newer member states to refrain from only banding together seems to differ from the current typical approach, as most EU coalitions are regional.
The Benelux countries Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands team up with one another when they need to get things done in the EU; so do the Southern Europeans.
But on most other issues, they would be better off reaching out westward, in order to improve their image in the West and to make it more difficult for euroskeptics to argue that the EU does not take its newer members seriously. The Central European countries, along with others who joined in or after, face a unique policy challenge. They came to the EU later than other members and need to work harder to prove themselves.
The fastest way for their preferences to gain legitimacy is to be endorsed by the older member states. They do not propose ways to resolve rule of law issues or East-West disagreements on migration. But that was never the intention. The European Union is extraordinary in that it is neither a federation akin to the United States, nor a simple international body of cooperation like the United Nations.
The European Union is, in fact, without equal. The countries that make up the EU EU States maintain their independence and sovereignty, but combine their sovereignty in order attain a level of power and influence that would not be possible if they went it alone.
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