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European
Responses to the Global Economic Crisis |
The economic crisis that began in the summer
of 2007 is having a powerful negative effect on popular attitudes
toward European institutions specifically and toward European
integration more generally. For the first time in its history,
the European Central Bank (ECB) has fewer people who claim
to trust it than distrust it. The balance of trust in the European
Commission and the European Parliament is still positive, but
only just. Meanwhile, and somewhat ironically, most Europeans
express the belief that only international policy coordination
can lead them out of the crisis and that levels of coordination
are currently inadequate. The European Union (EU) may be unpopular,
but it is no less necessary as a result.
The purpose of this brief is to map the politics behind European
responses to the global economic crisis. The brief is structured
in four parts. The first provides an overview of the public
opinion polling data. The second sketches how EU institutions
actually help. The third shows where the coordination of national
policies breaks down. The fourth explains why the United States
and the rest of the world will suffer unless the situation
improves.
- Popular Commitment to Coordination
- Policy Coordination Inside and Outside the Euro
- Problems with Coordination
- Implications
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