Eurobarometer 80.1 (2013)

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, 3. Financial and economic crisis, 4. European citizenship, 5. Information on EU political matters.<br>Topics: 1. Attitudes towards the EU (standard EU and trend questions): life satisfaction; 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; 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; 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); assessment of the development in the own country and in the European Union as positive; trust in selected institutions: press, radio, television, internet, political parties, national government, national parliament, European Union, United Nations, regional or local public authorities; image of the EU; meaning of the EU to the respondent; approval of the following statements on the EU: creates conditions for more jobs in Europe, is responsible for austerity in Europe, makes doing business easier in Europe, generates too much bureaucracy, will emerge fairer from the crisis, makes the financial sector behave more responsibly, makes the cost of living cheaper in Europe, makes quality of life better in Europe, helps tackle global threats and challenges, helps protect its citizens, 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 the members of the European Parliament 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, presentation of the party candidates for the post of the European Commission President at the next European Parliament elections; satisfaction with the democracy 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, own voice counts in the EU, own voice counts in the own country, EU’s voice counts in the world, globalisation as an opportunity for economic growth, own country can cope alone with negative effects of globalisation, EU protects its citizens from the negative effects of globalisation (Split A), EU enables its citizens to better benefit from positive effects of globalisation (Split B), better development of the own country outside the EU, EU should develop further into a federation of nation states; current and prioritized main objective in building Europe; optimism about the future of the EU.

2. Europe 2020 strategy: importance of the following initiatives in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy: increase support for research and development policies and turn inventions into products, enhance the quality of the EU’s higher education system, develop e-economy by strengthening ultrafast internet within the EU, support an economy that uses less natural resources and emits less greenhouse gases, help the EU’S industrial base to be more competitive by promoting entrepreneurship and developing new skills, modernize labour markets with a view to raising employment levels, help the poor and socially excluded and enable them to play an active part in society; 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; EU is going in the right direction to exit the crisis and face new global challenges.

3. Financial and economic crisis: impact of the economic crisis on the job market has already reached its peak; current situation of the own household: no plans for the future, plans for the next six months, long-term perspective for the next one or two years; most effective institution to fight the effects of the financial and economic crisis: national government, EU, United States, G20, International Monetary Fund; approval of the following statements: own country needs reforms to face the future, EU member states should increase cooperation to tackle financial and economic crisis, 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, EU will come out stronger from the crisis, feeling closer to citizens from other EU countries due to crisis, EU countries have to work more closely together; assessment of the effectiveness of selected measures to tackle the current financial and economic crisis: more important role for the EU in regulating financial services, stronger coordination of economic policy among the member states, stronger coordination of economic and financial policies among the countries of the euro area, designation of a finance minister for the EU, EU approval in advance of member states’ government budgets, more accountable governance of the euro, fines for governments spending or borrowing too much, central supervision of banking system at EU level; attitude towards selected measures to reform global financial markets: tougher rules on tax avoidance and tax havens, introduction of a tax on profits made by banks, introduction of a tax on financial transactions, introduction of Eurobonds, tighter rules for credit rating agencies, wage regulation in the financial sector.

4. European citizenship: expectations from the European Union; feeling of attachment towards: own city, own country, European Union; 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; desired additional information on citizens’ rights; feeling of national and / or European identity; most positive results of the EU; frequency of selected activities in the last twelve months: visits to other EU countries, reading books or magazines in foreign languages, socializing with people from other EU countries, watching TV in foreign languages, purchase of products or services via the internet from other EU countries; personal benefit from the following EU achievements: reduced border controls, improved consumer rights when shopping in another EU country, cheaper calls when using a mobile phone in another EU country, receiving medical assistance in another EU country, strengthened rights of air transport passengers, working, living, or studying in another EU country, less expensive flights and wider choice of airlines; most important factors for creating a feeling of community among EU citizens; values that best represent the EU; likelihood to make use of the ´European Citizens’ Initiative´; most likely political fields to use the ´European Citizens’ Initiative´.

5. Information on EU political matters: assessment of people’s knowledge in the own country about European matters and self-rated knowledge; frequency of media use: television on a TV set, television via internet, radio, written press, internet, online social networks; main information sources on national political matters and on European political matters; used websites to get news on national and on European political matters; trust in institutional and official websites; used sources of information on the EU, its policies and institutions; assessment of the amount of reporting on EU topics in the following national media as appropriate: TV, radio, written press, websites; assessment of the presentation of the EU in the aforementioned national media as appropriate; preferred kinds of websites giving information on the EU: institutional and official websites, information websites, online social networks, blogs, video hosting websites; 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; 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; self-rated social position (scale); 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; 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; weighting factor.