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12 | Zoltan Simon Well, it is not the first time that crew and passengers have had to navigate in stormy weather. But lately they have been facing successive storms striking from different angles over an extended period of time. Moreover, due to the increased number and diversity of people on board, it is getting more and more difficult to agree together on necessary actions. We can also notice a growing unease among passengers, while some crew members have started promoting the benefits of good-old smaller vessels compared to ocean liners. However, in truth, these smaller ships of the company are not in a much better shape, either. EUROPE IN CRISIS This is the narrative this book looks into. It is not the first, and certainly not the last one to do so. Paul Kubicek introduces the third edition of his European Politics by noticing the substantive change in the tone and narrative of his text compared to its initial version published back in the mid-2000s, in a period of Euro-optimism of hopes for a new, united, and strong Europe (Kubicek 2021, xi). This was the same period when Marc Leonard explained Why Europe Will Run the 21“ Century (Leonard 2005). Today, the mood is very different indeed. As Richard Youngs says: “the core narrative in Europe has become one of popular frustration and anger” (Youngs 2018, x). This negative perception of the present and the future of European integration, and of the European continent at large, is widespread. Some commentators trace it back to European citizens. However, interestingly enough, it is precisely in public opinion that it only seems to materialise in punctuated moments of revolt - such as the negative referenda on the Constitutional Treaty in France and in The Netherlands in 2005, the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom in 2016, or the 2019 European Parliament elections — instead of in a persistent negative attitude towards the European Union. As a matter of fact, according to Eurobarometer surveys, 47 per cent of European citizens hold a positive image of the EU, while 39 per cent have a neutral, and only 14 per cent a negative opinion. Sixty-six per cent of them think that their country’s membership is a good thing - against 24 per cent who are neutral, and 10 per cent who are against - an all-time high since this question was first asked in 2007 (European Union 2021, 12-15). They also seem to have more trust in the Union than in their national political institutions, be it the national government or parliament (European Commission 2020, 45). However, while 72 per cent of European citizens claim that they are “in favour of the EU’, only 27 per cent of them support it “as it has been realised so far” (European Union 2021, 18). Moreover, 52 per cent consider that things are going in the wrong direction in the Union, against 32 per cent who have the opposite view (European Commission 2020, 77-78).
