Britons are portrayed as “drunken semi-clad hooligans” or else snobbish stiff free-marketeers by the peoples of five other European nations.
Frenchmen are depicted as cowardly, arrogant, chauvinistic arotomaniacs.
These are part of the survey of European stereotype jointly conducted by six European newspapers -- El Pais, the Guardian, Le Monde, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Gazeta Wyborcza and La Stampa on Jan. 26.
Germans are depicted as uber-efficient, diligent, disciplined, while prone to steal the best loungers on holiday
Polish people are described as heavy drinking untracatholics with a whiff of anti-semitism and extreme dexterity for plumbing.
Italians are portrayed tax-dodging, Berlusconi-style Latin lovers, mama’s boys and incapable of bravery.
Spaniards are pictured as mach men and fiery women prone to regular siestas and fiestas, so that nothing ever gets done.
The Guardian pointed out as the European crisis ratchets up antagonism between countries, there has been a rise in name-calling and finger-pointing: from lazy southerners to domineering northerners, with plenty in between.
Jean-Michel Normand, columnist of Le Monde, said the fact that the French people are arrogant is not unrelated to the current financial and monetary crisis, in which France has been unable to disguise the difficulty it is having in maintaining its role.”
There is a strong objection to the stereotype depicted by other countries. Carmen Moran of El Pais insisted that the pictures Europeans have of Spain may be holiday snaps. “At 38.4 hours, the Spanish working week is longer than those in Finland (32.8), Germany (37.7), Italy (38) and France (35.6), to give a few examples taken from the EU agency Eurofound.”
Massimo Gramellini, reporter of La Stampa in Italy said that it is not true that no one in Italy pays taxes. “Employees and pensioners pay them up to the last cent.”