Improved opinion of the EU coincides with renewed economic confidence in most of the European countries surveyed. In recent years, many Europeans have been dispirited about economic conditions in their country. Now, as the economy in a number of nations has begun to recover, the public mood is brightening. There is now positive momentum for the EU and its Member States.
The Franco-German axis is once again set to enter into operation and push ahead with reforms that will help the EU stand on its own two feet or “take [its] destiny into [its] own hands”, as Angela Merkel recently put it.