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The European Union should respond topublic apathy and anger with emotional intelligence, two analystshave argued in a 30-page paper which is likely to spark somedebatein policymaking circles.

Heather Grabbe, director of the Open Society EU policy Institute and Stefan Lehne, a visiting professor at Carnegie Europe, spoke to five average Europeans inKoice, Sofia, Lille and Athens to find outwhat people really expect from the European Union.

In the aftermath of the eurocrisis, millions of Europeans have turned their back onmainstream parties and backed new Eurosceptic, populist and anti-establishment movements. The growing democraticdisconnect, whichbrought parties likeSyriza, CinqueStelleand Podemos to the fore, is undermining the proper functioning of the European Union.

Intelligence vs stupidity

We have witnessed real turbulence in European politics with some parties disappearing, others sprouting overnight, saidGrabbe. She notedsome of these new parties weretricky, since they have no interest in getting involved in the details of legislation and are mostly absent from legislative debates, like that over thePassenger Name Records Directive.

Instead of emotional intelligence, we risk having plain stupidity, she said.

Europe is paying the price for promising what it cannot deliver. Liberal German MEP Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, speaking at the launch of the study, noted that politicians are to blame for promising lEurope protectrice during political campaigns.

But Europe is not in the business of redistribution, he said, adding that this is a national competence.

The crisis has indeed shifted fundamentals that no government is really able to fully master, simply because the economy is now controlled by global forces. A lot of the blame has gone to the EU. National politicians have found it convenient to blame the EU, but the reason is called globalisation, Grabbe added.

Dimitar, ayoung blogger, Katarina, afactory worker and Alekosm, apensioner, and the other two examplesin the report standing in for the 500 + million citizens have all experienced frustrations with European democracy.

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More 'emotional intelligence' seen as key to restoring trust in the EU