On line on December 19th, 20th and 21st, an experiment from SIR Daily News in English. The service will officially start on January 9th 2006
"Despite the negative result of the French and Dutch referenda on the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty and the ensuing debate, the idea of an European Constitution is always welcome": in the 25-member EU, 63% citizens like the idea of a fundamental charter, 21% are against it. The Autumn poll conducted by Eurobarometro about the expectations of the Europeans about the EU, which was presented in Brussels today, shows some positive figures as well as a substantial increase in euro-scepticism. The final document (50 pages plus tables) compares the current opinions with those collected in the spring: it shows that in the old continent people who would like to give a Constitution to the EU have increased by about 2%, but the figures by country are somewhat different: Belgium is top of the list (77% voted for), bottom of the list are Sweden (44% for) and Denmark (45%). A comparison with the figures of six months ago shows that Malta is the country that has progressed most(+10% voted for, compared with six months ago), followed by Holland, Greece, France, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Germany. Negative figures come instead from Spain, Poland, Cyprus, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia. The most remarkable backward trend is found in Italy (-4%), although Italy remains one of the countries most in favour of the Constitution: 70% of Italian still say they do want the Charter. In France and the Netherlands, people that say they agree with the need of a Constitution for the future of the EU are 67% and 62%, respectively. (to be continued)
