You are in:
- Archives » 2007 » July 2007
Europeans And Globalisation
Some poll data suggesting that Europeans are becoming suspicious of globalisation published in the FT. The poll of 1,000 people (online) in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United States shows an increase in support for higher taxes for the rich - and even large majorities supporting pay caps for executives in Britain, France, Italy and Spain.
The most popular answer for whether or not globalisation is having a positive effect was "not sure." Only in Germany was globalisation popular, with nearly 40 percent of people polled believing it was a positive thing. Interestingly, globalisation is even less popular in the US than in France.
The polls showed just under 20 percent of French respondents thought globalisation was good for France; around 30 percent were convinced it was a bad thing. In the US, slightly fewer respondents saw it as positive, but many more - around 40 percent - saw it as bad for America.
Belief that social background doesn't inhibit opportunity is higher in Britain and the US, but is still a minority stance. In other countries poll, there is overwhelming support for the belief that opportunities are unequal.
There is big support (60 percent plus) for corporate pay caps in all EU countries apart from Germany (around 45 percent). Surprisingly, around 30 percent of US respondents polled support pay caps.
US voters were left out of the last question, on whether or not competition should feature as one of the EU's objectives. France's new president Nicolas Sarkozy managed to strip the phrase "free and undistorted competition" from the text of the new European Constitution. It was seen as a blow for liberals and infuriated many of Sarkozy's centre-right counterparts. Sarkozy himself argues that competition should not be an end in itself - his aides briefed reporters that the President needed a high-profile liberal scalp to help sell his reform package to the sceptical French.
However, competition is still widely popular in Europe. 45 percent of Brits support it; only slightly fewer French. Only around 15 percent of Britons polled oppose competition - though this figure is closer to 40 percent in France. In Italy, Spain and Germany, support for competition as an EU objective is nearly overwhelming - it Italy, it is supported by a whopping 80 percent of pollsters. This is extraordinary, not least because Italy has been as slow to face up to reform as France and also because Italy's tapestry of small manufacturing firms is in the front line of cheaper imports from the EU and outside.
Still, there is a widespread suspicion in the EU that the benefits of globalisation are not being fairly distributed. In the run-up to the French presidential election, critics sneered at Sarkozy's claims that a nation's self-image was tied to its manufacturing prowess. The candidate vowed to protect French manufacturing from overseas takeovers and "unfair" challenges. He was accused of macho posturing by suggesting that men who had worked for a generation in factories were not likely to take kindly to being retrained for call centre positions: In France's dwindling industrial heartlands, this kind of talk resonates.
Against the liberal textbook it may have been, but a large number of French voters were convinced.
