Social Europe. European Outlook 1: Annex to State of the European Union 2004

‘Brussels’ does not figure large in public opinion, and the daily television update of the Dutch political scene, in the form of the programme Den Haag Vandaag is not matched by even a weekly counterpart on Europe. Although the attitude of the Dutch population to the European Union is positive in itself, the practicalities of European co-operation are seen primarily as the colourless outcome of the work of bureaucrats. An estimated 60% of all new Dutch legislation is in fact European in origin, but in everyday life the ordinary man in the street is less aware of this than of the convenience of open borders and the general use of the euro.