Local Media’s Coverage of the EU Sample Clauses

Local Media’s Coverage of the EU. Grani’s “YES! We are ten years in the EU!” provides a look at how life has changed in Latvia in the last ten years as an EU member. The article discusses the tenth anniversary of EU accession and mentions while once a controversial decision for Russian-speakers, this population have since come to embrace EU membership. Despite having 66% of voters supporting EU accession, there was still societal unease at the time of the referendum. The article references that one third of Latvia voted against membership for various political and individual reasons. Grani briefly gave an overview of the history behind the drive for EU membership and its then perceived, controversial platform. The journalist posed three questions to fifty residents of Latgale, tallied their responses, and spotlighted their opinions. The first question asked residents how they would vote now—with sixteen for EU membership, twenty-one against, and 261 “Latvia Becomes 18th Eurozone State.” 262 Ellyatt, “Why Latvia Wants to Join the Euro Zone.”; ▇▇▇.▇▇▇.▇▇, “Support for EU and NATO Membership High among Latvian Speakers.” thirteen undecided.263 The journalist shares two responses, one in which a woman justifies her vote against due to the fact that Russian non-citizens still face inequality, and another in which a local citizen shares what he believes to be the benefits of EU membership in Latvia today.264 The second question asks whether attitudes towards the EU would be more positive if not for the global financial crisis.265 The responses to this question were less divided—twenty-seven would be more positive while 10 would not be more positive towards EU membership, with fourteen who were undecided266. The journalist then shares one respondent’s commentary in which the commenter states that “the [financial] crisis would have come sooner or later”, with or without the EU.267 Before going on to the third question, the author highlights what respondents list as the two consistently positive benefits of EU membership—open borders and EU development projects.268 The author shares information regarding the injection of funding into the Latvian economy from EU projects but notes that that development projects have shown a lessening interest to Latvia’s residents over time. The final question that the journalist asks is open ended; what do you see for the future of the EU