US survey: Euro ‘bad for the economy’, say French, Germans, Spaniards

The Transatlantic Trends 2010 was published on the 15 September 2010. Transatlantic Trends is an annual public opinion survey examining American and European attitudes toward the transatlantic relationship. A project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di San Paolo, with additional support provided by Fundação Luso-Americana, Fundación BBVA, and the Tipping Point Foundation.

Amongst the questions survyed concerned attitudes towards the euro. There was little support for Europe’s common currency in the countries surveyed that use the euro. When asked whether using the euro has been a good or bad thing for their country’s economy, almost all majorities in the eurozone sample responded negatively. The euro was not appealing from the outside either. Majorities of the British (83%) and Polish (53%), and a plurality of Bulgarians (42%), thought that using the euro would be a bad thing for their economies. However, more than half of the EU respondents (57%) felt that economic difficulties in Europe should lead to greater commitment to build a stronger European Union.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Transatlantic Trends, 2002- http://www.europeansources.info/record/website-transatlantic-trends-2003/

German Marshall Fund of the United States: Press Release, 15.9.10: Transatlantic Trends 2010 http://www.gmfus.org/trends/2010/pressinfo.html

---