Eurobarometer 86.2 (2016)

Since the early 1970s the European Commission´s Standard & Special Eurobarometer are regularly monitoring the public opinion in the European Union member countries. Principal investigators are the Directorate-General Communication and on occasion other departments of the European Commission or the European Parliament. Over time, candidate and accession countries were included in the Standard Eurobarometer Series. Selected questions or modules may not have been surveyed in each sample. Please consult the basic questionnaire for more information on country filter instructions or other questionnaire routing filters. In this study all question modules are in the standard Eurobarometer context: 1. Standard EU and trend questions, 2. Europe 2020 strategy and policy priorities, 3. Financial and economic crisis and related EU policies, 4. European citizenship, 5. Media use and political information.<br>Topics: 1. Attitudes towards the EU (standard EU and trend questions): life satisfaction; frequency of discussions about political matters on national, European, and local level; assessment of the current situation in the following areas: national economy, European economy, personal job situation, financial situation of the own household, national employment situation, provision of public services in the own country; expectations for the next twelve months regarding: personal life in general, national economic situation, financial situation of the own household, national employment situation, personal job situation, economic situation in the EU, economic situation in the world; most important problems in the own country, personally, and in the EU; assessment of the own country’s assumed membership in the EU as a good thing; expectations of benefit from an assumed membership of the own country; assessment of the full application of EU legislation for the Turkish Cypriot Community (TCC) as a good thing; expectations of benefit from the full application of EU legislation for the Turkish Cypriot Community (TCC); general direction things are going in the own country, the EU, and in the USA; trust in selected institutions: written press, radio, television, internet, online social networks, national legal system, police, army, public administration, political parties, regional or local public authorities, national government, national parliament, European Union, United Nations; image of the EU; positive associations with the following terms: free trade, globalisation, liberalisation, competition, public service, security, solidarity; meaning of the EU to the respondent; most suitable attributes for describing the EU: modern, democratic, protective, efficient, technocratic, forward-looking; approval of the following statements on the EU: creates conditions for more jobs in Europe, makes doing business easier in Europe, generates too much bureaucracy, needs a clearer message; knowledge of and trust in selected institutions: European Parliament, European Commission, European Central Bank; knowledge test on the EU: number of member states, direct election of European Parliament members by the citizens of each member state, Switzerland is a member of the EU; attitude towards the following issues: European economic and monetary union with one single currency, common foreign policy of all member states, further enlargement, common defence and security policy, free trade and investment agreement between the EU and the USA, common migration policy, common energy policy, digital single market within the EU, free movement of EU citizens; satisfaction with the democracy in the own country and in the EU; own voice counts in the own country and in the EU; approval of the following statements: respondent understands how the EU works, recognition of the own country’s interests in the EU, EU’s voice counts in the world, globalisation as an opportunity for economic growth, better development of the own country outside the EU, more decisions to be taken at EU level, optimism about the future of the EU.

2. Europe 2020 strategy and policy priorities: likelihood to reach the following objectives by 2020: three quarters of people between 20 and 64 years of age having a job, share of funds invested in research and development reaching 3% of the wealth produced in the EU each year, reduction of EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% (compared to 1990), increase of the share of renewable energy in the EU by 20%, increase of energy efficiency in the EU by 20%, reduction of the share of young people leaving school without qualifications to 10%, at least 40% of the people aged 30 to 34 having a higher education degree or diploma, reduction of the number of people living below the poverty line by a quarter, increase industry’s contribution to economy to 20% of GDP; EU is going in the right direction to exit the crisis and face new global challenges; most important objectives in a European energy union; feeling towards immigration of people from: other EU member states, outside the EU; attitude towards additional measures to fight illegal immigration of people from outside the EU on EU level and / or on national level; attitude towards the right for EU citizens to: live or work in every member state of the EU, live or work in the respondent’s country.

3. Financial and economic crisis and related EU policies: impact of the economic crisis on the job market has already reached its peak; approval of the following statements: measures to reduce public deficit and debt in the own country cannot be delayed (split A), measures to reduce public deficit and debt in the own country are not a priority for now (split B), EU has sufficient power and tools to defend its economic interests globally, private sector is better placed to create new jobs than public sector, public money should be used to stimulate private sector investment at EU level; approval of selected measures to reform global financial markets: introduction of a tax on financial transactions, introduction of Eurobonds, wage regulation in the financial sector, tougher rules on tax avoidance and tax havens.

4. European citizenship: feeling of attachment towards: own city, own community, European Union, Europe; approval of the following statements: feeling of being a citizen of the EU, knowledge of the rights of EU citizens, desire for more information on the rights of EU citizens; feeling of national and / or European identity; most positive results of the EU; most important factors for creating a feeling of community among EU citizens; most important personal values; values that best represent the EU; amount of shared values between the member states; approval of selected statements: state intervenes too much in personal lives, immigrants contribute a lot to the own country, people in the own country have a lot of things in common, respondent understands what is going on the world, own country should help refugees, everything was better before, confidence in the future; likelihood to make use of the ´European Citizens’ Initiative´; most likely political fields to use the ´European Citizens’ Initiative´; awareness of the Erasmus programme; attitude towards the Erasmus programme; association with the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaty; assessment of the Treaty of Rome as a historic event.

5. Media use and political information: assessment of the informedness of the people in the own country about European matters; self-rated knowledge about European matters; frequency of the following activities: watch television on a TV set, watch television via the internet, listen to the radio, read printed press, use the internet, use online social networks; preferred sources of information on national political matters; preferred sources of information on European political matters; preferred sources of information on the European Union, its policies and institutions; assessment of the appropriateness of coverage with European Union issues in the following media: TV, radio, printed press, websites, online social networks; assessment of the presentation of the EU in the national media as positive; attitude towards selected statements on political information in online social networks: modern way to keep abreast, not trustworthy, can get people interested, good way to have a say.

Demography: nationality; left-right self-placement; marital status; age at end of education; sex; age; occupation; professional position; type of community; household composition and household size; possession of durable goods (entertainment electronics, internet connection, possession of a car, a flat/a house have finished paying for or still paying for); financial difficulties during the last year; internet use (at home, at work, at school); self-reported belonging to the working class, the middle class or the upper class of society.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country; questionnaire split; date of interview; time of the beginning of the interview; duration of the interview; number of persons present during the interview; respondent cooperation; size of locality; region; language of the interview (only in BE, LU, ES, FI, EE, LV, MT, MK, TR); nation group; weighting factor.