According to the press secretary of the European Parliament in Latvia, Janis Krastins, in the European Union (EU), 60% of respondents said they were interested in the June elections. 71% said they were likely to vote. This is three percentage points more than in the fall of 2023, and ten percentage points more than in February and March 2019.
The survey also shows that EU citizens are well aware of the importance of elections in the current geopolitical context, with eight in ten respondents agreeing that this makes voting even more important. The majority of respondents in all Member States agree with this statement.
A Eurobarometer poll shows that in Latvia, 65% of respondents would be willing to vote if elections were held in a week. Also, 76% agree that voting is becoming increasingly important in the current geopolitical context.
81% of EU citizens have a positive or neutral attitude towards the European Parliament, and only 18% have a negative attitude. A majority of EU citizens, 56%, would like to see the European Parliament play a more prominent role, while only 28% think the opposite, and 10% would like the current role to remain unchanged.
In Latvia, 85% of respondents have a positive or neutral attitude towards the European Parliament, and only 10% have a negative attitude. 60% of respondents want the role of the European Parliament to be more visible, 25% – less visible, and 7% – unchanged.
Europeans would like the main themes of the elections to be the fight once morest poverty and social exclusion, as well as support for health care. Economic support and job creation, EU defense and security are ranked third.
The importance that citizens place on EU defense and security has increased over the last parliamentary term, especially in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine. In nine countries they were named as the first priority of the election campaign, with the highest results in Denmark, where 56% of respondents indicated this, 55% in Finland and 53% in Lithuania.
In Latvia, the top three were EU defense and security, economic support and job creation, and healthcare. Latvian respondents chose peace, the protection of human rights in the EU and around the world, and democracy as the main values that the European Parliament should protect in the future.
Looking to the future, EU citizens also see defense and security as key priorities for strengthening the EU’s position in the world, followed by energy, food security and agriculture. While four in ten citizens believe the EU’s role has become more important in recent years, 35% believe it has remained the same and 22% believe it has decreased.
At Member State level, a relative majority in 15 countries believes that the EU’s role in the world has become more important in recent years. In Sweden this figure is 67%, in Portugal – 63%, in Denmark – 60%. In Slovenia and the Czech Republic, on the contrary, people more often say that the role of the EU has become less important – 32% and 30% respectively.
Almost three-quarters of citizens say EU activities have an impact on their daily lives, including a fifth, or 20%, who say the impact is significant. In addition, a majority of Europeans, 71%, agree that EU membership benefits their country. These results are unchanged from autumn 2023 and remain high across the EU.
In Latvia, 38% of respondents say that the EU’s role in the world has become more important in recent years, 23% – less important, and 33% – unchanged. 69% have a positive assessment of the future of the EU. In Latvia, respondents consider the EU’s priorities for strengthening its position in the world to be defense and security, energy and competitiveness, economy and industry. 64% of respondents confirm that the measures taken by the EU affect their daily lives, and 76% note that Latvia’s accession to the EU has brought benefits.
The survey was conducted from February 7 to March 3 in all 27 EU member states. A total of 26,411 interviews were conducted.
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2024-04-22 18:41:35