“It is the older people who vote, it is a group which does not have the same opinion as the youth”, underlines Jean Viard

The French and the European Union: how has this relationship evolved in recent months? A question that is good to ask at the end of a European Council, which some consider historic. The 27 open the way for the accession of Ukraine and Moldova, support also reaffirmed against Russia, with the exception of Viktor Orban’s Hungary.

The European Union has just published its latest Eurobarometer, a major survey across member countries, and it shows that the war in Ukraine is clearly reinvigorating pro-European sentiments.

franceinfo: The European Union is generally perceived as a haven of stability in a world in crisis by more than 60% of French people, for example?

Jean Viard: I believe it was De Gaulle who said that nations are built by the force of the sword. And that’s not wrong, unfortunately. But it is clear that Europe is not a nation, there had already been the great pandemic, where 750 billion, which had been put on the table. There is the war in Ukraine, and then we see the world around us, so we say to ourselves but in the end, we are not so bad, there is all that at play, which is positive.

And we also feel that the first dream of Europeans is that we are independent in energy matters, and that Europe, with its different energy tools, we have all understood that energy is central . Europe, moreover, is still the continent which does the most things in ecological matters. And so there is all this which means that Europe is rather on a positive feeling, and there is almost no one running for elections saying that they are anti-European. Even the most nationalist parties have a different vision.

But I will take an image, basically, the nation is the family circle, and Europe is the circle of friends. What poses a problem for us in the nation is the place of immigration. Because there are two problems right now in Europe, the war in Ukraine and immigration. And the question in the family circle is what is the place of the newcomer? But Europe is more about the circle of friends, it’s getting stronger. We see that there is a demand for a common international policy, a demand for a common military policy.

I remind you that for the moment, military policies are national, so we are in a process of construction, a new political object, unidentified, but which nonetheless makes us dream. Because for the moment, in Europe, there has been peace for 70 years, which is still extraordinary in today’s world.

In the current political debate in France, it is interesting to return to the migration question in Europe, with figures which may be a little surprising: 67% of French people, according to this Eurobarometer carried out by the European institutions, say they are in favor of a common European migration policy, 56% are in favor of a common European asylum system, and then 7 out of 10 French people want, at the same time, a strengthening of the EU’s external borders. So, even on immigration, Europe is seen as an opportunity at the moment?

So there are different polls, those from JDD this morning which are more negative. Surveys ask you a series of questions, and you tend to respond coherently. But these figures are positive. Afterwards, I think that people have the feeling that Europe is a sieve, which is far from being completely false. Frontex is developing, but there have still been 30,000 deaths in the Mediterranean. If the border is drowning, in human terms, it is unbearable; and in terms of values, what are the values ​​of Europe, if we drown when we want to come to us?

But it is clear that we want a more protective Europe, which produces its energy internally, which possibly has social rules internally, and which actually strengthens borders, in particular to manage immigration. It’s not necessarily being against it. Look in Italy, they have just decided, even though it is an extreme right-wing regime, they have just decided that they are missing 450,000 migrants in the coming years.

So, we need more work, our societies are aging, but we talk about immigration all day long. What is happening in France is totally absurd, it scares the hell out of us, when in fact, in the real world of things, we realize that if it were a little better managed, a little coordinated, basically the people are quite peaceful.

Do you think that all this is likely to energize the campaign for the European elections, that they can mobilize, go beyond 50% participation rate next June?

To go very quickly, there are three groups in the electorate: older people who are rather favorable to Europe, even from my generation, because we have heard about the war, the Shoah. There are young people who were raised in it, we taught them at school. And then, in the middle, there is the generation which has suffered from globalization, the collapse of industrial production, and which has suffered from unemployment for 30 years. These are the most resistant to Europe. This is also partly the base of the far right, and young people are hardly going to vote in these elections. That’s why it’s not likely to move a lot. The big problem with France is that when we do polls, we take the entire population. But those who vote are the oldest, and it is a group which does not have the same opinion, particularly as the youth.