Eurobarometer 69.2 (Mar-May 2008)

Assessment of the development of the EU. Economy and environmental protection. Global warming and climate change.

Topics: Frequency of political discussions with friends and own opinion leadership; life satisfaction; future expectations regarding personal life, the financial situation of the own household, the national economic situation, the personal job situation, and the economic situation in the EU; comparison of the national situation with the average of the other European countries concerning: economy, employment, cost of living, energy prices, and quality of life; most important national political issues; voting behaviour and the European Parliament; (only in EU 27): voting behaviour in the last elections to the national parliament; assessment of the current or future EU membership (Turkey, Croatia, and Macedonia) of the own country as a good thing; assessment of the benefits of an EU membership; in the Turkish Cypriot community was asked: assessment of the full application of EU legislation in the own country as a good thing; reasons for and against the application of EU legislation in the own country; again all: reasons for and against an EU membership; development of the own country and the European Union in the right direction; trust in institutions; EU image; importance of the European Union for the respondent (associations); agreement with statements regarding the EU membership (more safety through EU membership, more economic stability through membership in the EU and the euro area, effectiveness of the own voice in the EU and in the own country, consideration of the concerns of the European citizens by the European parliament with regard to European issues, the right to vote with respect to European technical issues, understanding how the EU works, consideration of national interests by the EU, EU imposes its views on the own country); importance of the own voice and the voice of the own country in the EU; knowledge of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Council, and the European Central Bank; assessment of the role of these institutions in the life of the European Union; trust in these institutions, and reasons for trust or distrust; comparison of the present purchasing power of the own household with five years ago; financial difficulties at the end of the month; expectations regarding the future life of today´s children in comparison with the own generation; assessment of the transparency of the national public administration as well as of the EU institutions; personal importance of transparency for the respondent; knowledge test on the European Union (including the number of member states); preference for decision-making at national or at European level regarding: fighting crime, unemployment, inflation, and terrorism, taxation, defence, immigration, educational system, pensions, and environmental protection; health and social welfare, agriculture and fishery, consumer protection, science and technology, support for regions with economic difficulties, energy, competition, transports, and economy; attitude towards a common European currency, a common foreign policy, a common defence and security policy, and towards further enlargement of the European Union; assessment of the future development of the European Union; most important issues for strengthening the EU for the future; awareness of the current EU presidency of Slovenia; in Slovenia was asked: importance of the Slovenian EU presidency; awareness of the upcoming regular change of presidency to France; in France was asked: importance of the French EU presidency; again all: approval or rejection of an EU enlargement with the following countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Croatia, Albania, Turkey, Ukraine, Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland; attitude towards the EU membership of Turkey; attitude towards the EU membership of the countries of the Western Balkans to help to stabilize the region; attitude towards globalisation (scale: opportunity for economic growth, increases social inequality, common interests of the European Union and the United States, protection from price increases, peacekeeping in the world, threat to national culture, profitable only for companies but not for citizens, more foreign investments in the own country, helps the development of poor countries, need for common global rules, openness to other cultures); globalisation as an opportunity for national companies to profit from the opening of markets versus threat of national jobs and companies; attitude towards the role of the European Union in globalisation: protection from negative effects of globalisation; enables European citizens to benefit from globalisation; assessment of the performance of the European economy in comparison with the economy in America, Japan, China, India, Russia, and Brazil; impact of globalisation on national companies; attitude towards the relocation of companies: to avoid closure, or to increase profit; identity as European citizen, world citizen, and citizen of the own region; satisfaction with the identity as European, world citizen, resident of the region, and resident of the home country (10 point scale); reasons for feeling or not feeling European; knowledge test on the date (day, month, year) of the next European elections in the own country; interest in these elections; intention to vote (scale); main criteria for the decision on who to vote for at the European elections (personality of candidates, party preference, etc.); reasons for not voting in the European elections; preferred campaign issues; voting behaviour in the last elections to the European Parliament; attitude towards: state intervention in the personal lives, need for more equality and justice, stricter penalties for criminals, immigrants contribute a lot to the own country, preference for economic growth or environmental protection (split: four different wordings of the question), free competition, leisure time is more important than work; most important values of the respondent and of the European Union; agreement regarding the existence of common European values and global western values; shared values between the EU Member States; attitude towards selected items of post-materialism; most important values concerning personal happiness; most serious world problems; assessment of the problem of global warming (scale); assessment of the personal knowledge on the causes, consequences, and combating of climate change; adequateness of the actions taken by the national government, the EU, corporations and industries, and the citizens in the fight against climate change; attitudes towards climate change (scale); personally taken actions to fight climate change, and motivations; willingness to pay higher prices for energy produced from climate friendly energy sources (percentage); assessment of the statements that the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 % by 2020 compared to 1990 and of increasing the share of renewable energy to 20 % by 2020 can be achieved; assessment of the proposition made by the EU regarding an international agreement between the major world economies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 by 30 %.

Demography: nationality; age; left-right self-placement; marital status; age at end of education; sex; 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); national provenance of respondent and parents (migratory background); party attachment.

Also encoded was: date of interview; beginning of interview; duration of interview; persons present during the interview; respondent cooperation; size of locality; region; weighting factor; interview language (ONLY in LU, BE, ES, FI, EE, LV, MT, TR AND FM); interviewer ID.