Europeans divided on EU achievements

A survey conducted by the Royal Institute of International Affairs, commonly known as Chatham House, which is a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in London show that Europeans are quite divided on their opinions of EU’s greatest achievements so far. The survey was conducted on respondents from 10 countries; Belgium, Germany, Poland, Greece, Spain, France, Austria, Hungary, and the United Kingdom. The survey also shows quite a great amount of divergence between the opinions in the UK and the rest of the Europe.

• 14 percent of the EU respondents think that peace in the continent has been the greatest achievement, while 17 percent consider freedom to live and work across the EU as its greatest achievement. 8 percent of the respondents considered EU single market as the biggest achievement. Removing borders between states is also considered by as much as 15 percent.
• A stark 17 percent of the people believe that EU has achieved nothing great. That number is quite high at 29 percent in the United Kingdom.
• Interestingly, despite all the criticism surrounding it, the Euro is considered as the greatest achievement by 11 percent of the people surveyed.

The survey is of significant importance as the European leaders are looking for a meaningful vision for the bloc. The newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron is leading the campaign for vision.