Trust in the EU

Richard North has highlighted the latest poll results for trust in the EU.

By and large, the proportion in each member country that tends to trust the EU hits a high of 68% and then declines gradually to a mere 37%.

But oh dear, look at France and Germany, the countries often described as the motor of the EU. In France the proportion trusting the EU is 39%, against 51% who don't. Of course the French probably don't trust any politicians at all (certainly not Sarkhozy).

The German result should worry the Commission even more. A mere 37% trust the EU, compared with 54% who don't. Maybe the Commission should be grateful that the numbers weren't even worse, after the enforced bank and sovereign bailouts (the bailout of Greece will be in vain). But Germany is, of course, the main paymaster. Richard North thinks that the EU will collapse from within, and clearly there are limits to what German voters will tolerate.

The other large founding member is also near the bottom in the trust stakes. In Italy only 42% tend to trust the EU. Mind you, only 41% don't. At 17%, Italy is joint top in the number of don't knows. Compared to colourful Italian politics, the EU must seem so drab as to be almost invisible.

At the end of the chart the proportion in one country who say they tend to trust the EU crashes from the German figure of 37% (the second lowest) to a mere 20%. 68% there don't. Yes, it's the UK.

Bad news for Mr Hague and Mr Cameron, who have designed a foreign policy which tries not to mention the EU at all; and an indictment of the puny efforts of UKIP. In the face of this public mistrust, their main achievement has been to line the pockets of their low quality, chancer MEPs.