Eurobarometer 89.1 (2018)

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. EU budget, 6. Future of the EU.<br>Topics: 1. Attitudes towards the EU (standard EU and trend questions): assessment of the current situation in the following areas: own country, 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, situation in the own country 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); general direction things are going in the own country, the EU, and in the USA; trust in selected institutions: media, political parties, national legal system, police, army, public administration, 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, protectionism, large companies, small and medium-sized companies, welfare state, security, solidarity, entrepreneurship (not in candidate countries), liberalisation (not in candidate countries), competition, trade unions, public service; meaning of the EU to the respondent; most suitable attributes for describing the EU: modern, democratic, protective, efficient, remote, forward-looking; knowledge of and trust in selected institutions: European Parliament, European Commission, European Central Bank, European Council, Council of the European Union, Court of Justice of the EU, European Court of Auditors, European Committee of the Regions, European Economic and Social Committee, European Ombudsman; 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, common trade policy, 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; 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 bring industry’s contribution to the EU economy to 20 % of GDP by 2020; 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.

4. European citizenship: feeling of attachment towards: own city, own country, 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: 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; assessment of the current speed of building Europe and preferred speed.

5. EU budget: attitude towards an increase in the EU budget given its political objectives; assumed fields on which most of the EU budget is spent; preferred fields on which to spend most of the EU budget.

6. Future of the EU: main assets and main challenges of the EU; preference for more decision-making at EU level in each of the following areas: fight against terrorism, health and social security, gender equality, democracy and peace, secure energy supply, migration issues from outside the EU, environmental protection, investment and job creation; expectations regarding the life of future generations in the EU; most important political issues for the future of Europe; 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; happiness with the following aspects: living in the own country, living in the EU.

Demography: nationality; life satisfaction; frequency of discussions about political matters on national, European, and local level; left-right self-placement; marital status; sex; age; age at end of education; occupation; professional position; type of community; household composition and household size; own a mobile phone and fixed (landline) phone; 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; own voice counts in the own country and in the EU; opinion leadership.

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; nation group; weighting factor.