Flash Eurobarometer 188 (Consular Protection and Family Law)

Family law and consular protection in the EU.<br>Topics: 1. Family law: expected role of the EU with regard to legislation in the following areas: adoption of children from different member states, recognition of civil status certificates in other member states, divorce in other member states, child custody dealings in other member states, inheritance in other member states; prioritized action of the EU in the aforementioned areas: ensure recognition of legal documents in other member states, establish standard formats for specific documents, enhance mechanisms for document translation; preferred legal options for the divorce of partners with different nationalities within the EU: possibility to choose which country’s divorce law shall apply, possibility to choose in which country divorce proceeding shall take place, availability of both options; attitude towards the automatic validity of friendly agreements on the distribution of belongings in other EU member states; likelihood of being personally concerned by the aforementioned issue of divorce in the next 20 years; necessity to ensure recognition of testaments in other member states; assessment of the difficulty to prove own rights in case of the inheritance from a person owning belongings in another member state.

2. Consular protection in the EU: plans to travel outside the EU in the next 3 years; knowledge test on actions to be taken to get administrative help in the case of emergency in a country where the own country has no embassy: contact own country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, use services of a travel agent, use consular assistance by another EU embassy, use consular assistance from the European Commission Delegation in the respective country; preferred body of assistance: own country, any European Union country embassy, designated European Union country embassy, designated central EU service located in the respective country; preferred kind of assistance: possibility to communicate with someone who understands own language, someone who arranges immediate return to home, possibility to contact family or boss or bank, possibility to get financial help, possibility to get legal aid.

Demography: sex; age; age at end of education; occupation; professional position; nationality; number of fixed phone lines in the household (only in PL); number of fixed phone lines in the household used exclusively for business purposes or for electronic equipment (only in PL); number of fixed phone lines in the household listed in telephone directory; number of fixed phone lines in the household listed in telephone directory and used exclusively for business purposes or for electronic equipment.

Additionally coded was: interview number; interviewer ID; language of the interview; country; date of interview; time of the beginning of the interview; duration of the interview; call history; region; weighting factor.