Op-Ed Columnist: Those Revolting Europeans

A new survey of European public opinion shows that the continent’s financial and employment crises are jeopardizing European integration. In just the last year, overall support for the European Union fell from 60% to 45%, PewResearch’s Global Attitudes Project found (CR in this chart is the Czech Republic):

Days before French lawmakers are due to vote on a bill that would make it illegal for Muslim women to wear full veils in public, a US poll has found that a majority of Europeans back such a ban while Americans reject it.The French overwhelmingly endorse a ban on Muslim face coverings, also known as the burqa or the niqab, as do majorities in Britain, Germany and Spain, a survey conducted by the Washington-based Pew Research Center?s Global Attitudes Project found.

European leaders have failed to overcome their differences over the bloc's future economic strategy, in particular on poverty and education, EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso admitted on Friday.

The French government spoke out on Sunday against comments by International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde suggesting that Greeks were dodging taxes."I find (Lagarde's comments) rather simplistic and stereotypical," government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told French television after the IMF managing director's comments last week outraged Greece.

French President Francois Hollande Wednesday warned Greeks four days before elections that if Athens does not keep its bailout commitments, some of its eurozone partners will want it out of the bloc.While acknowledging the Greeks' right to determine their own future, Hollande told Greek Mega Channel television that if it appears from the vote that they doesn't want to respect the bailout deal "there will be countries in the eurozone which would prefer to end Greece's presence in the eurozone."