European Public Opinion


November 10, 2001


BOB GARFIELD: Martin Walker, chief international correspondent for United Press International joins us now. Welcome back to On the Media!

MARTIN WALKER: Hello there.

BOB GARFIELD: Martin, last week we discussed the Kosovo "wobblies" -- how the European press seem to be nervous and backing off of its support of the U.S. on the War in Afghanistan. What about public opinion? Have the polls begun to appear in the European papers?

MARTIN WALKER: Well yes, the polls have started to appear, and they're scaring the pants off Europe's political leaders. In France Dimanche the, the French Sunday paper, a poll found that only 17 percent of those questioned thought that Operation Enduring Freedom would end in success. Forty-seven percent thought it would fail.

In Germany there was a poll reported in Suddeutsch Zeitung which showed 45 percent of Germans thinking that the, the bombing was a mistake and ought to be stopped. In Spain you've got 54 percent wanting a bombing pause. That's according to El Mundo. In Italy, according to Il Messaggero 45 percent want a pause in the bombing.

This sense of real European disquiet has led many newspapers to talk about the loss of the propaganda war, and it's got the European leaders nervous.

BOB GARFIELD:Lo and behold this week President Jacques Chirac of France and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom came to Washington and stood with the president at the White House to discuss Europe's continued committment. I, I gather the press polls-- and their appearances were not unconnected.

MARTIN WALKER: That's right. The polls that were published really alarmed the European leaders, and they took the view at this dinner party that Blair organized at Downing Street on Sunday night that the way to turn around European opinion was to stop this war looking like purely an American operation and for President Bush to overcome the objections of the Pentagon and start accepting these manifold offers of troops that the French have offered 2,000 troops; the Germans have assigned nearly 4,000; the British have already got troops there; the Italians, the Spaniards, the Dutch -- they're all offering troops, and the Pentagon is saying well we don't actually want the hills of the Hindu Kush reverberating to the sounds of bongiorno, guten morgen, bonjour -- they don't need this Tower of Babel in the military operations.

But the Europeans are saying that for political reasons we really ought to have this.

BOB GARFIELD:Well that's interesting because at least on this side of the Atlantic to appease the populace, political leaders tend to say well we will not get involved with American troops on the ground. But you're suggesting that by including their own country's troops in this operation in Afghanistan, these leaders are trying to get their citizens behind the war!

MARTIN WALKER: Well, absolutely so, and this is the kind of argument that you're reading even in the left wing press. Take for example France's Liberation. "The urgent and necessary challenge we face is to find bin Laden and his men before they contaminate the whole Muslim world. There is no reason why this challenge should be faced the United States alone."

From The Independent in Britain, a left of center paper: "Military impatience with the lack of results from so-called pinpoint bombing, the urgency about the appro--approach of winter must not allow - be allowed to weaken the coalition of support behind the ultimate objective."

Suddeutsch Zeitung of Munich, a very centrist paper: "The reasons speaking in favor of America's right to self defense and Europe's need to join them have become stronger rather than weaker over the past four weeks of war."

BOB GARFIELD:Are you reading from anywhere around the world an exception to the rule? Are there places where in spite of the trends of most of Europe, the press and the citizens seem to be backing away even today?

MARTIN WALKER:Well, I, I think we can sort of cite some of the usual suspects -- in Greece which has got a very anti-American tradition in its left wing press. "Eleftherotypia has been warning that the bombardments have not proved effective so far and they will not prove effective to combat terrorism. A country's being destroyed and civilians are being killed. The terrors do not justify the continuation of the bombardment."

You're certainly getting that, but across Europe as a whole and even in Eastern Europe what you're getting is a much, much wider sense of solidarity.

BOB GARFIELD: I have one further question. Is that the rustling of newspapers I hear or are the cicadas back?

MARTIN WALKER: No, no it's the rustling of this pile of [LAUGHS] newspapers I bring to the studio every week.

BOB GARFIELD:Well, thank you as always for bringing them along. Martin Walker is the chief international correspondent for United Press International. Martin, thanks a lot.

MARTIN WALKER: Thank you.