Eurobarometer 46.0 (Oct-Nov 1996)

General attitude to the EU. Sun-bathing and cancer. Currency. Energy
and environmental protection. Third World and foreign aid. Rights of EU
citizens. Topics: nationality (multiple response possible); interest in
politics; personal opinion leadership; expectations of the coming year
regarding one´s own situation in life, the economic situation of the
country, the private financial situation, the situation in the job
market in the country and one´s own occupational situation; media usage
(TV, daily newspapers and radio).

1. Attitude to the EU: self-classification of extent to which informed
about the policies and institutions of the EU; desire for more
information about the EU; judgement on membership of the country in the
EU; advantageousness of this membership; expected development towards
European citizenship or self-image as citizen of one´s own country;
speed of unification currently observed and desired by the respondent;
desire for a common currency, common foreign policy and common security
policies; attitude to a European Government responsible to the European
Parliament and European responsibility for all things not taken care of
nationally; significance of a trust situation between president,
European Commission and parliament; attitude to a balance of power
between European Parliament and council of ministers; attitude to
passive and active municipal right to vote for EU foreigners; attitude
to school instruction about the way European institutions work;
attitude to support of European film and television production by the
EU as counter-balance to American and Japanese productions; preference
for national or European decision-making authority in selected
political areas; trust in the peoples of the individual member
countries of the EU as well as in the Poles, Hungarians, Czechs,
Slovaks, Russians, Turks, Americans and Japanese; attitude to the
Common European Market.

2. Sun-bathing and cancer: attitude to sun-bathing and judgement on
the danger of the sun´s radiation for adults and children (scale);
assessment of the dangers in sun-bathing and skin cancer resulting from
this (scale); knowledge about possibilities of preventing skin cancer;
personal conduct when sun-bathing (scale); suntan lotion and dark
glasses as protective measures; frequency of use of solariums;
self-assessment of personal skin type or skin color; stating eye color
and natural hair color; knowledge about the advertising campaign
against skin cancer and sun-bathing as well as the general advertising
campaign ´Europe against cancer´.

3. Currency: attitude to replacement of the national currency by the
EURO; reasons for or against this common currency; self-assessment of
extent to which informed about the new currency; knowledge about
conditions for participating in the European currency (test); expected
time for introduction of the new currency; expected fulfillment of the
criteria by one´s own country for the first time of introduction in
1999 as well as for a second point time in 2002; expected consequences
of non-membership of one´s own country in this currency union;
assessment of the EURO as only currency for all payments in the EU;
assumption of a difference between ECU and EURO; selected economic
expectations and changes through the common currency (scale);
preference for introduction on one day or gradual introduction of the
new money; preference for dual labeling of prices in stores, bills,
bank account statements and salary statements; preferred duration for
this dual labeling; most important concerns in the conversion phase;
preferred institutions and organizations for a special education
campaign on introduction of the new currency; evaluation of selected
advertising slogans for the common currency; preferred distribution
channel for information material on the common currency.

4. Attitude to energy questions, nuclear energy and environmental
protection problems: the significance of equivalent technical
standards, oil prices and efficient energy technology in all of Europe;
importance of a supply of gas for every consumer and favorable energy
costs for industry; improvement in provision of electric power in the
EU; significance of adding environmental protection to European law;
significance of securing energy sources; importance of reduction of
energy consumption by private users; importance of improved information
about possibilities of energy conservation; the significance of clean
air for the cities (split: supplemental questions on reduction of
environmental pollution through better traffic control systems,
increased traffic control during times of heavy traffic, higher
taxation of private vehicles and energy as well as through improvement
in public local transport); assessment of the seriousness of
environmental problems due to the greenhouse effect, acid rain and
destruction of the ozone layer; assignment of possible causes to these
environmental problems; areas of actual and future increased possible
measures for energy conservation; classification of the efficiency of
energy conservation of public facilities on local, regional, national,
European and world-wide level; preference for market decision or public
direction in energy investments; classification of energy sources such
as coal, oil, gas, nuclear energy and renewable energies in their price
stability, their security of supply and their slight risks for the
environment for the next ten years; most important of the three
criteria (split: instead of the answer category ´slight environmental
risks´ ´reduction of environmental pollution´ was used); attitude to
development of nuclear energy power plants (split: changes in answer
categories presented); attitude to tax increase on energy consumption;
preference for selected models of traffic planning with options for
public local transport or private transport or pedestrians.

5. Attitude to aid and development in the Third World: importance of
supporting underdeveloped countries in Africa, South America and Asia;
most important reasons for not helping the Third World; assessment of
the percentage of the national budget and the European budget for
foreign aid; preference for an increase or reduction of national as
well as European contribution to foreign aid; expected percentage of
return of these funds to countries in the EU; desire for increased
information about foreign aid through the EU; assumption about good
business of companies from investing in underdeveloped countries;
Europe, USA or Japan as most able partner for foreign aid in Africa,
South America and Asia; assignment of the most able partners to the
regions; reasons for rejection of the ability for foreign aid of the EU
in Africa; Japan, USA or developing countries as greatest export
partners of the EU; foreign aid of the EU as contribution to solution
of drug problems, overpopulation, immigration problems, environmental
pollution, unemployment problems in one´s country, AIDS and the
development of trade relations; assessment of the substance of news
reports on television as well as in daily newspapers regarding selected
topics from the developing countries.

6. Rights as citizen of the EU: knowledge about the rights and
possibilities as EU citizen in another member country (test);
self-assessment of extent to which informed about selected questions of
rights and chances as EU citizen; knowledge and extent of interest in
further information; preferred distribution channels for information
material about the rights as EU citizen; self-classification on a
left-right continuum; possession of durable economic goods such as
radio, electronics, computer, camera, second car and second home;
self-classification of economic situation of household; urban or rural
residential area. In Ireland the following questions were posed:
knowledge about the Irish presidency in the council of ministers and
significance of this presidency for one´s own country. In Eastern and
Western Germany as well as in Spain, France, Italy and in the United
Kingdom the following additional questions were posed: classification
of one´s own knowledge about every individual member country of the EU
and classification of one´s own closeness as well as distance from
these countries; judgement of these countries regarding their political
reliability, economic efficiency, approval of Europe and business
reliability; attitude to strict application of the Maastricht criteria;
importance of observance of the introduction date for the common
currency in and assessment of the probability that this date will be
met; self-assessment of perception of political events in Italy in the
last year; judgement on the political as well as the economic situation
in Italy on scales. In Spain the following additional questions were
posed: preference for regional or national election lists in the
election to the European Parliament.

Also encoded was: date of interview; time of start of interview; length
of interview; number of persons present during interview; willingness of
respondent to cooperate; possession of telephone in household.