2023-12-06 05:00:40
European Parliament presents results of the latest Eurobarometer survey
Vienna (OTS) – Parliament published its autumn 2023 Eurobarometer survey today, Wednesday, showing that Europeans continue to support the EU and are showing greater interest in the upcoming European elections.
More than seven out of ten citizens believe that their country has benefited from EU membership (EU 72%; AT 55). The main reasons given by respondents were the EU’s contribution to maintaining peace and strengthening security (EU 34%; AT 34%) and improved cooperation between the countries of the Union (EU 34%; AT 31%). The image of the EU has also remained stable since March 2023: 45% of EU citizens have a positive image of the Union (AT 37%), 38% have a neutral image (AT 37%) and 16% have a negative image (AT 26 %).
Die President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said of the survey results: “This Eurobarometer survey shows that Europe matters. In this difficult geopolitical and socio-economic context, citizens trust the European Union to find solutions. The vast majority of Europeans believe that the EU’s actions have had a positive impact on their daily lives.”
Far from believing that the EU has no impact on their everyday life, 70% of EU citizens believe that EU measures have an impact on their daily life (AT 74%). More than a third of EU citizens see the fight once morest poverty and social exclusion (EU 36%; AT 39%) and public health (EU 34%; AT 27%) as the most important issues before the European Parliament should prioritize. Fighting climate change as well as supporting the economy and creating new jobs (EU 29% each; AT 37% and 31% respectively) follow closely behind, while the issue of migration and asylum (18%; AT 28%) is currently the top priority ninth place, having risen by seven percentage points since autumn last year.
The most important issues for respondents in Austria are fighting poverty and social exclusion (39%), fighting climate change (37%), the future of Europe (32%) and supporting the economy and creating new jobs (31% ).
President Roberta Metsola added: “For the last five years we have been listening. And the European Parliament has delivered. We fight once morest poverty, social exclusion and climate change. We fight to create jobs and defend EU values such as democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.”
As can be seen from the policy priorities, many citizens are still affected by socio-economic hardship, even if some indicators have improved in the last six months.
73% of respondents (six percentage points less than in spring 2023) believe that their standard of living will decline next year (AT 76%). Over a third of Europeans (37%; AT 31%) have difficulty paying bills sometimes or most of the time.
With a view to the European elections in 2024, the majority of citizens (EU 53%; AT 38%) would like the European Parliament to play a more important role – a majority opinion in 21 EU member states. The majority of Europeans (57%; AT 61%) are interested in the upcoming European Parliament election – a stable result compared to spring 2023 (+1 percentage point) and 6 percentage points higher than at a similar point in autumn 2018 the last European elections. 68% of respondents (AT 66%) say they would probably vote if the European elections took place in a week – that’s nine percentage points more than in autumn 2018.
Parliament Speaker Roberta Metsola concluded: “But democracy can never be taken for granted. We must protect and preserve them by casting our vote. Every vote in the upcoming European elections counts.”
You can find the entire results here.
background
The European Parliament’s Autumn 2023 Eurobarometer was carried out by the Verian Research Agency (formerly Kantar Public) between September 25 and October 19, 2023 in all 27 EU Member States. The survey was conducted in the form of face-to-face interviews, with additional video interviews (CAVI) being used in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland and Malta. A total of 26,523 interviews were conducted. The EU results have been weighted according to the size of the population in each country.
Questions & Contact:
European Parliament Liaison Office
Bernhard Schinwald, Presse
+43 660 3737 367
bernhard.schinwald@ep.europa.eu
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