The economic crisis is undermining Mediterranean countries' confidence in the euro: Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and French view the single currency with greater distrust than 7 years ago, while the rest of the continent seems more optimistic. This is what a survey by the Istituto Cattaneo reveals, based on Eurobarometer data from 2002, the year the euro was introduced, 2007, the year the crisis started, and 2013.
The euro is certainly one of the hot topics of the electoral campaign, but, asks Cattaneo: it is Is it true that Europeans have changed their opinion on the single currency? And in what percentage have Italians changed their minds from 2002 to today? Based on the average data, the first answer is: no, the Europeans have not changed their minds. In 2007 there were 69% in favour, in 2013 66%. However, the "average" hides many differences: the Germans, for example, remain in favor to the extent of 71% (it was 72% in 2007), while Southern Europe (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) appears decidedly less inclined and the percentage drops from 64% to 57%.
“A split has been created – write the researchers – between the countries of Mediterranean Europe and the other nations of the Eurozone”. In this context, the case of Italy is even more macroscopic: since 2007, our country has lost 10 points of confidence. Since the introduction of the single currency there has even been a drop of 23%: in fact we have gone from 76% in favor in 2002, when we were more optimistic than Germany and France, to 53% in 2013, when we ranked among the most pessimists of the 18 member countries of the single currency.
Electoral propaganda? Apparently not. "This critical attitude - writes the Bolognese Institute - precedes the political campaign of these European elections". Rather, this sentiment was endorsed by some parties: “The great emotional value of the currency for any citizen and the fact that distrust of the Euro had grown – concludes Cattaneo – prompted some parties (primarily the Eurocritical parties such as the Northern League, the 5 Star Movement, the Brothers of Italy and partly Forza Italia) to ride this theme and amplify it further. This is why the phenomenon appears rooted in public opinion, and therefore even more worrying in the eyes of those who have looked to Europe with hope”.
