Populism Doesn't Mean the EU Will Fall Apart

The global populist revolution is widely seen as an existential threat to the European Union. The parties pushing it are mostly anti-EU, and after Brexit, more exits don't look impossible. It's probably wrong, however, to equate the strength of populist movements with anti-EU sentiment.

Bertelsmann Stiftung, an organization that regularly measures attitudes toward the EU, has published the results of a new survey that show euroskepticism has receded throughout Europe after Brexit, including in countries where nationalist populists have recently won elections or may win them in the near future. A spate of recent political surprises has proved public opinion surveys increasingly useless, but one thing polls can still do accurately is indicate the direction in which opinion is moving. In that respect, the Bertelsmann survey's results are unequivocal.