Eurobarometer 63.4 (May-Jun 2005)

Attitude towards the EU. EU enlargement and the European Constitution. Economy in the EU and in the world. Innovative products and services.

Topics: 1. Attitude towards the EU: frequency of political discussions with friends and personal opinion leadership; life satisfaction; expected development for the next twelve months regarding: personal life in general, the financial situation of the own household, the personal job situation, the national economic and employment situation; comparison of the current personal situation with five years ago and expected development in the next five years; trust in institutions (justice, political parties, national government, national parliament, European Union, and the United Nations); assessment of the EU membership of the own country as a good thing; benefits from the EU membership for the own country; (in Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Croatia, and Northern Cyprus was asked: assessment of a future EU membership as a good thing; advantages of a future EU membership for the own country); image of the EU from the perspective of the respondent; attitude towards a European political union; meaning of the EU to the respondent; feelings towards the EU (enthusiasm or rejection); attitude towards the EU: feeling of safety, more stable economically and politically through existing or future EU membership of the own country, own political efficacy, understanding of the processes of the EU, national interests are taken into account by the EU, growing influence of the own country in the EU, superiority of the large countries in the EU; expected and desired role of the EU in daily life in five years; fears related to the European Union: power loss for smaller member states, increase in drug trafficking, less frequent use of the national language, increasing payments of the own country to the EU, loss of social benefits, loss of national identity and culture, economic crisis, transfer of jobs to other EU member countries with lower production costs, more difficulties for farmers; frequency of the reception of news on television, in newspapers, or on the radio; self-assessment of the personal knowledge on the EU (scale); used information sources about the EU; assessment of the extent of media coverage in the own country by topics regarding the EU as well as the image evoked; knowledge of EU institutions: European Parliament, European Commission, Council of the European Union, Court of Justice of the European Communities, and European Central Bank; importance of each of these EU institutions and trust in them; knowledge test on the European Union (number of member states, electoral procedure for the European Parliament, anthem, time of the last elections to the European Parliament); most important problems in the own country; attitude towards the role of the European Union in selected national issues; attitude towards: a European Monetary Union with the euro as common currency, a common foreign policy towards countries outside the EU, a common security and defence policy, EU enlargement, an EU constitution, a two-speed Europe, teaching about EU institutions at school; prioritized future EU issues; attitude towards increasing the budget of the European Union given political goals; knowledge of the field on which most of the EU budget is spent; attitude towards selected suggestions regarding the further development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the European Security and Defence Policy (rapid military reaction force, common position of the EU member states in international crisis, own foreign minister as spokesman for the EU, own seat on the UN Security Council, independence of the EU´s foreign policy of the one of the USA, worldwide efforts of the EU to guarantee human rights, common immigration and asylum policy); positive or negative role of the United States and the European Union regarding the following topics: peace in the world, fight against terrorism, global economic growth, fight against poverty in the world, and environmental protection; comparison of the importance of the European Union at present with five years ago; satisfaction with the democracy in the own country and in the European Union; personal attachment to the own city, the own region, the own country, and Europe; positive or negative connotation of selected terms (company, monopoly, competitiveness, social security, free trade, protectionism, globalisation, public service, trade union, reforms).

2. EU enlargement and the European Constitution: attitude towards the enlargement of the European Union; attitude towards the accession of Switzerland, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Iceland, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Turkey to the European Union; attitude towards the EU membership of Turkey (scale); knowledge of the contents of the European Constitution; attitude towards the European Constitution and reasons for this; knowledge test about planned changes to the European Constitution (creation of the position of a foreign minister, European referendum, direct election of the president of the European Council, creation of a direct European tax, EU citizenship, EU exit); trustworthy institutions and groups of people for information about the European Constitution; expected development of the EU after the adoption of the treaty on the European Constitution by all member states regarding democracy, efficiency, transparency, strength in the world, economic competitiveness, and social affairs.

3. Economy in the EU and in the world: assessment of the current situation in the following areas: national and European economy, national employment situation, social welfare and environmental situation, personal quality of life and financial situation; comparison of the current situation in the own country with the average of the EU member countries regarding economic and employment situation, environmental situation, social welfare situation, educational system, and quality of life; expected change in these areas; assessment of the living standards in Europe compared with the standards of living in the United States, Japan, China, and India; assessment of the performance of the European economy compared with the economy in the United States, Japan, China, and India; comparison of the current level of development in the European Union with the USA regarding: scientific and medical research, environmental protection, innovation technology, healthcare system, education, the fight against social inequality, unemployment and discrimination, and the creation of companies; impact of globalisation on the own country; assumed reasons for the delocalisation of companies: necessity or profit orientation; preferred measures to improve the performance of the European economy; European Union as the largest economic power in the world in the next five years.

4. Innovative products and services: personal interest in innovative products or services; prioritized definition of the term ´innovation´: creation of new products or services or improvement of existing products and services; own consumption behaviour after a new product or service is put on the market: continue to purchase the trusted product or try new product; willingness to replace an already known product or service through an innovative one; attitude towards innovative products and services.

In Luxembourg was also asked: awareness of the current presidency of Luxembourg in the Council of the European Union and importance of this presidency. In the United Kingdom was asked: awareness of the future presidency of the Council of the European Union and importance of this presidency.

In Portugal was also asked: consideration of animal welfare in the current food and agricultural policy.

Demography: nationality; left-right self-placement; marital status; age at end of education; age; sex; occupation; professional position; type of community; household composition and household size; national provenance; own a mobile phone and fixed (landline) phone; religion; attendance of religious services; possession of durable goods; holidays (weeks/year); mother tongue; knowledge of foreign languages.

Additionally coded was: 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.