We knew the French were world champions of economic pessimism, according to Ipsos “Predictions” surveyspublished every year since 2012. And now, the inhabitants of France also win the title of the least optimistic among European citizens about the future of the European Union, as revealed in the latest Eurobarometerpublished this Wednesday, April 17.
Thus, according to this poll carried out between February 7 and March 3, 52% of French people say they are pessimistic for the future of the Union, compared to 35% on average across the continent. Figures which contrast with the Danes, for their part optimistic at 83%, the Irish (81%) or the Lithuanians (78%).
These figures reveal the feelings of the French, a few months before the European elections. But also the evolution of this feeling, while the percentage of optimistic people in France has fallen by 4 points since the last elections in 2019. France is also, this year, the only European country where optimists are in the minority (42%).
Furthermore, 27% of French people think that the Union evokes a negative image, compared to 17% on average at European level. 26% think that being part of the EU has not benefited their country.
67% of French people intend to vote
However, the future of the EU is not the only target of this typically French gloom. If 65% think that “things are going in the wrong direction in the EU” (compared to 49% of Europeans on average), there are even more of them (76%) who think that they are going in the wrong direction in their own country.
The French also express greater concern than the European average about the evolution of their personal standard of living. 69% estimate that it has fallen over the last five years (compared to 45% on average in the EU). And 53% think that it will fall in the next five years (compared to 32% at European level).
However, and if the majority of them (53%) acknowledge that they are not interested in the European elections, the French affirm by a large majority (67%) that they want to go to the polls to renew this parliamentary assembly, whose headquarters are in Strasbourg.
Problem is, only 8% of them know the exact date of these elections, by direct universal suffrage in one round, scheduled for June 9 in France. At the European level, 23% of respondents admit to having no idea when the vote will be held, a percentage which rises to 30% in France.