EU Survey Shows 75% Of Citizens Support Economic Governance
BRUSSELS (MNI) – European Union citizens are in favour of
strengthening the economic rules in the 27-nation bloc, a European
Commission survey published on Thursday showed.
Three-quarters of the citizens surveyed want to increase economic
governance in the European Union, according to the survey, which was
carried out in May this year. That’s an increase of 2 percentage points
from autumn 2009 and 4 points compared to February 2009, the European
Commission said in a statement.
The survey showed that the biggest swings in opinion towards
stronger governance occurred in Finland and Ireland – where opinion
strengthened by 13 percentage points compared to autumn 2009.
Belgium and Germany were next in line, with opinion up 7 percentage points
over the same period.
Under European Union rules set out in the Maastrict Treaty, EU member
states must limit their budget deficit to 3% of their annual gross domestic
product and keep their public debt below 60% of GDP. But in the past,
those rules haven’t been strictly enforced.
Since the onset of the financial crisis, European policymakers have
put stronger economic governance at the top of their agenda,
commissioning European Council President Herman Van Rompuy to lead a
task force to brainstorm ideas to ensure economic rules are adhered to.
The Van Rompuy task force has so far held two meetings and is due
to report its findings in October.
The interviews for the European Commission survey were conducted
between May 5 and May 28 this year. Across the EU, 26,641 people were
interviewed.
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