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Brexit has ‘shaken things up’ says Sion Jobbins
The latest report published by the English athenaeum, named “Europe Today and Tomorrow: What Europeans Want”, revealed that residents, on the whole, want the EU to be more integrated. But a staunch division could be evinced on some of Brussels’ pillars such as freedom of movement.
More people agreed (37 percent) with the statement “free of movement has had more costs than benefits for my country,” then disagreed (32 percent).
The report adds: “The mood in Europe is in fact more mixed with regards to whether free movement has been entirely a good thing at the country level.”
In a bigger blow to the EU, it was in France and Germany that responded were more likely to think that the cost of free movement outweighs its benefits.
The figure was 45 percent in France and 40 percent in Germany.
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Overall, 44 percent of respondents said they had not benefited at all from freedom of movement.
But the report adds: “There were, however, big differences in the age breakdown of responses to this question. Only a quarter of respondents under the age of 30 reported that they had not benefited at all from freedom of movement, compared to nearly three-fifths of over-50s saying they had not benefited.
“Young Europeans were also more likely to report benefiting in one of the ways listed than any other age group, with nearly a third currently or previously having lived, worked or studied in another EU country.”
The report also states: “There is also clear dissatisfaction with the EU’s distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and a plurality of respondents agree that freedom of movement has brought more costs than benefits for their country.”
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Only one in 20, 5 percent, of Europeans thought the vaccine rollout was dealt with “very well”.
And 45 percent thought the EU dealt with it “badly” or “very badly”.
The poll was conducted with a sample of 13,601 drawn by Dalia Research from March 11 to April 6 across all 27 EU member states plus the UK, taking into account current population distributions with regard to age (14-69 years), gender and region/country.
In post-Brexit UK, another poll has proven Brexiteers right, showing the anti-EU sentiment has been growing since the 2016 referendum.
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Brexit has reinforced an anti-EU sentiment in the UK
A YouGov poll conducted earlier this year found more people viewed the EU “unfavourably” than favourably in one of the biggest pushbacks against the bloc to date.
The poll, carried out in March amid several attempts by the EU to block vaccine supplies travelling to the UK, appeared to find nationwide sentiment in stark opposition to the bloc’s project.
When asked: “Do you have a favourable or unfavourable view of the European Union?”, 24 percent of respondents viewed the EU as “somewhat unfavourable,” while 26 percent viewed it as “very unfavourable”.
Alternatively, 24 percent of people said they viewed the EU as “somewhat favourable,” while just 11 percent viewed the bloc as “very favourable”.
The vaccines fiasco was a significant blow for Remainers who have been steadfast in their argument that the EU is a benign entity.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had threatened to block the export of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines from EU-based AstraZeneca production facilities that Britain had already paid for.
It came as the EU’s mass vaccination programme stalled at every hurdle, while the UK’s became one of the best and fastest in the world.ed the EU as “somewhat favourable,” while just 11 percent viewed the bloc as “very favourable”.
While the EU has since recovered and made ground on its vaccine roll-out, the chink in its armour could remain.
Meanwhile, in the UK, Britons generally seem happy with the Government’s handling of the pandemic despite the various controversies of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Cabinet.
An Ipsos MORI survey in March showed that two-thirds (67 percent) of Britons believed the UK has handled the COVID-19 vaccination program better than governments of countries in the EU.
Two-fifths (40 percent) of Britons believe Brexit has made Britain’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic better – although those who voted to leave the EU in 2016 are significantly more likely to believe the UK’s exit has had a positive effect on how it has handled the pandemic.
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