Friday

31st Mar 2023

Europeans more positive about EU, survey shows

  • Respondents were asked: Does your voice count in the EU? 47% said yes, 48% said no. (Photo: European Parliament)

Europeans increasingly believe that their voice matters in European affairs, a study ordered by the European Parliament showed on Wednesday (18 October).

The survey results showed that 47 percent of respondents felt "their voice counts in the EU", which is the highest level since June 2009.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • In the UK, some 55% said their country benefited from EU membership. (Photo: Guled Ahmed)

Inversely, 48 percent said they felt their voice did not count. This was the lowest in eight years.

The study was carried out by Kantar Public, which interviewed 27,881 Europeans in September and October.

More Europeans (61 percent) think their voice counted at the national level, but Romanian and Lithuanian respondents said they thought their voice counted more at the EU level than at home.

Membership of the EU is also supported by the majority of respondents.

Just like the survey from six months earlier, 57 percent of the answers said that their country's membership of the EU is "a good thing". That was almost as high as in 2007, when 58 percent agreed with the statement. Over the past decade, May 2011 saw the lowest percentage of people agreeing (47 percent).

Some 28 percent thought their country's membership was neither good or bad, while 12 percent - the lowest in ten years - said membership was a bad thing.

The survey also included interviews in the UK, which is due to leave the EU by March 2019.

Britons happy with EU 'on balance'

While lower than the EU average, a good 55 percent of UK respondents said that "taking everything into account", the UK has "on balance" benefited from EU membership.

That was a more positive review of the EU than the one given by citizens from Austria (53 percent), Greece (48 percent), Cyprus (45 percent) and Italy (39 percent).

Irish respondents were most positive, with 90 percent saying their country had benefited.

In Poland, 84 percent said their country had benefited, while in Hungary 72 percent agreed with that notion.

The EU average was 64 percent - the highest in a decade.

However, there are differing reasons for thinking that EU membership has been beneficial.

For example, both in Denmark and Estonia, 81 percent of respondents said their country benefited.

But in Denmark, the main reason was because it allowed Denmark to cooperate with other EU countries, whereas Estonians saw more of a benefit in the EU's contribution to economic growth.

The researchers also asked what EU objective should be protected.

Interestingly, the most frequent answer in the UK (46 percent) was the freedom to travel, work and study across the EU - a right which featured prominently in the referendum campaign ahead of the UK's decision to leave, and one Britons are expected to lose after Brexit.

Respondents in the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, and Germany, tended to say that fundamental rights and freedoms were the most important, while Mediterranean countries most often mentioned labour rights.

Europeans more optimistic about EU since Brexit vote

Perceptions of the EU have increased significantly in France, and Europeans generally feel more optimistic about the future of the bloc since last autumn - despite Brexit and a surge in populism.

EU rejects UK claim it's slowing Brexit talks

The EU is "not confident, but hopeful" that the UK will achieve sufficient progress for 'stage 2' by December, as Britain's Brexit negotiator blames the slow pace of negotiations on the EU ahead of a crucial summit meeting.

EU Commission defends Eurobarometer methodology

The EU executive responds that its public opinion survey is not a statistic, but a snapshot, after concerns were raised over the method that could result in pro-EU bias.

Opinion

Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity

From the perspective of international relations, the EU is a rare bird indeed. Theoretically speaking it cannot even exist. The charter of the United Nations, which underlies the current system of global governance, distinguishes between states and organisations of states.

Opinion

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

Turkey goes to the polls in May for both a new parliament and new president, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided against a post-earthquake postponement. The parliamentary outcome is easy to predict — the presidential one less so.

Latest News

  1. Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?
  2. EU sending anti-coup mission to Moldova in May
  3. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  4. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  5. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  6. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries
  7. The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant
  8. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us