Voters in five west countries want referendum on EU treaty
Strong majorities of voters in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain want their governments to put any reworked EU constitutional treaty to a referendum, according to a poll published Monday.
The Harris Interactive Survey in the Financial Times business daily showed that 75 percent of Spaniards, 71 percent of Germans, 69 percent of Britons, 68 percent of Italians and 64 percent of French want the EU treaty that emerges from a Brussels summit later this week to be put to a public vote.
Voters also responded negatively to the idea of having a full-time EU president replace the current system of rotating six-month presidencies, with just 46 percent of those with an opinion supporting the idea.
Just 14 percent of Britons supported the proposal, while 54 percent of Spaniards were behind it.
A proposal for a new EU foreign minister post received more backing, however, with a total of 77 percent of those voicing an opinion saying they supported the proposal.
Again, Britain was the least keen on the idea, with 41 percent supporting it, while 81 percent of Italians were supportive.
Support for further EU enlargement -- particularly the addition of Turkey to the bloc -- was low, with none of the five countries in which respondents were questioned producing a majority in favour of further enlargement.
On the question of Turkey joining the EU, 71 percent of French voters and 66 percent of Germans opposed the idea.
Harris Interactive questioned 1,025 Britons, 1,014 Germans, 1,012 French, 1,090 Italians and 1,010 Spaniards over the Internet between May 31 and June 12 for the survey.Interesting numbers, considering the EU
The poll also asked the question, "Which one, if any, of the following countries do you think is the greatest threat to global stability?"
Sorry, but you'll have to scroll the poll to see the results.
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