EU:Most Europeans feel the EU should take more responsibility for global threats but there is little enthusiasm for sending troops on combat missions, a new study shows.
Just over half of EU citizens (54 per cent) want the EU to act in partnership with the US while 43 per cent would like it to have a more independent foreign policy. France is the only EU state surveyed where a majority of people, some 58 per cent, believe the EU would do a better job abroad by addressing global threats independently of the US.
The transatlantic trends 2007 survey published by the German Marshall Fund of the US found that 88 per cent of Europeans want the EU to take more responsibility for dealing with global threats such as terrorism, global warming and energy supplies.
US president George Bush's foreign policy attracted disapproval ratings of 77 per cent of Europeans and 60 per cent of Americans.
Of those Europeans who want the EU to have a stronger role in foreign affairs: 84 per cent support providing more aid for development; 74 per cent support using trade to influence other states; 68 per cent support the use of peacekeeping soldiers; but just 20 per cent support the deployment of combat troops to address particular threats.
A third of Europeans (35 per cent) say they feel that relations between the EU and US will improve when Mr Bush leaves office. About 46 per cent believe relations between the two world powers will remain the same after the 2008 election. More Americans (42 per cent) feel that EU-US relations will improve when Mr Bush leaves while 37 per cent believe that relations will stay the same.
The survey measures broad public opinion in the US and 12 European countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Britain, and gauges transatlantic relations. The German Marshall Fund of the US is a public policy and grant-making institute that was founded in 1972 as a gift from Germany to the US and a permanent memorial to the Marshall plan assistance.