Eurobarometer 73.4 (May 2010)

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. Financial and economic crisis, 3. Europe 2020, 4. Globalisation, 5. European Citizenship.<br>Topics: 1. Attitude towards the EU (standard EU and trend questions): general life satisfaction; frequency of discussions about national, European and local political matters; personal opinion leadership; assessment of the national, the European economy and of the economy in the world; evaluation of the personal job situation and of the financial situation of the household; assessment of the employment situation in the own country and the situation of the environment; assessment of the national economy, the national employment situation, the cost of living, energy prices, the quality of life and the situation of the environment in comparison with the average of the EU countries; expectations for the future regarding the personal life situation, the economic situation of the country, the financial situation of the household, the employment situation of the country, the personal job situation, the economic situation in the EU and in the world, and the environmental situation in the country; most important problems of the country and impact on the respondent personally; the country´s membership in the EU as a good thing; favorability of the country´s membership in the EU; main reasons for the perceived benefits and disadvantages of the EU membership; development of the country, of the European Union and of the United States in the right direction; trust in institutions (in the political parties, the national government, the parliament, the European Union, the UN and local public authorities; positive or negative image of the EU; meaning of EU for the respondent; awareness of European institutions such as European Parliament, European Commission, Council of the European Union, European Central Bank, European Ombudsman, Committee of the Regions, European Council, Court of Justice of the EU, European Economic and Social Committee, and trust in these institutions; knowledge test on the European Union (the number of Member States, direct election of Members of the European Parliament, target of the Lisbon Treaty, Switzerland is a member of the EU); support of the single currency (euro) and of an enlargement of the EU; attitude towards a common foreign policy; priorities for future strengthening of the EU; preferred decision-making level (country or EU) in the areas of fighting crime, unemployment and terrorism, taxation, defense and foreign affairs, immigration, educational system, pensions, environment, health, social welfare, agriculture, consumer protection, research, support for regions facing economies difficulties, energy, competition, transport, economy, fighting inflation; satisfaction with democracy in the country and in the EU; consideration of national interests in the EU; knowledge how the EU works; optimism about the future of the European Union; awareness of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union; importance of the Spanish presidency.

2. Financial and economic crisis: the impact of the crisis has reached its peak; assessment of the current situation of the own household; most important actor to tackle the economic and financial crisis (split: extension of the response categories on the closed question and change of the question text); better protection of the country while keeping the former national currency; impact of the euro on the financial crisis; preferred initiatives to improve the performance of the European economy; preferred measures of the EU to address the financial crisis; attitude towards the reform of the economic system (scale: Financial crisis makes it easier (Split A) or more difficult (Split B) to adopt reforms, promoting reforms to relieve future generations, demand for more reforms in the country (Split A), and the adopted reforms are already sufficient (Split B), demand for increased cooperation among the EU Member States, willingness to lower standards of living to secure the future of the next generations, measures to reduce the public deficit are primarily (Split A) or are not a priority (Split B); demand for a rapid reduction of public debt; it is necessary to increase public deficits to create jobs; effectiveness of selected measures to combat the financial crisis (scale).

3. Europe 2020: assessment of measures to overcome the financial crisis and to achieve the future viability of Europe (scale: research funding, promotion of education, development of the Internet, reducing of greenhouse gases, strengthening of competitiveness by promoting entrepreneurship, modernization of the labor market, integration of socially excluded people); estimation of the accessibility of EU objectives by 2020: full employment, research funding, reducing of greenhouse gases, renewable energy, increase of energy efficiency, boost of education and reduction of the poverty rate.

4. Globalisation: attitude towards globalisation (scale: opportunity for economic growth, increases social inequalities, requires worldwide governance, same interests of the the EU and the United States when dealing with globalisation, protects from price increases, profitable for large companies, not for citizens, leads to foreign investment in the own country, contributes to the development of poorer countries, the EU is powerful enough to defend its economic interests in the global economy, protects European citizens from the negative effects of globalisation (Split a) and enables them to better benefit from the positive effects (Split B), EU and China have the same interests when dealing with globalisation).

5. European Citizenship: identity as an EU citizen; self-rated knowledge of rights as a citizen of the EU; interest in information about EU citizens´ rights; encouraging elements to strengthen the respondents identity as a European citizen; visits abroad in another EU country; media use: reading print products as well as reception of television programs in a language other than the mother tongue; socialized with people from another EU country; Internet use in order to purchase products from another EU country; advantages of the achievements of the European Union (less border controls, consumer empowerment, reduced mobile phone costs, utilization of medical services in another EU country, strengthened rights of air transport passengers); feeling of safety because of the country’s EU-membership; political efficacy (own voice counts in the EU and in the own country and the country´s voice counts in the EU); MEP, national political representatives or regional or local political representatives as a guarantor for the representation of the respondent’s interests on a European level, to explain how European policies influence day-to-day life and what the EU is doing for European citizens; most effective ways of political participation to ensure that one’s voice is heard by decision-makers; estimation of the probability to make use of the ´European Citizens’ Initiative” according to the Lisbon Treaty; areas in which the respondent would use this European Citizens´ Initiative; areas of own voluntary activity and areas where volunteering plays an important role.

Demography: nationality; left-right self-placement; age; marital status and family situation; national provenance of the respondent; migration of parents within and outside the EU; age at end of education; sex; occupation; type of community; household composition and household size; own a mobile phone and fixed (landline) phone; financial difficulties during the last year; self-rated social position (scale); internet use (at home, at work, at school).

Also encoded was: date of interview; interview; persons present during the interview; willingness to cooperate; interview language; city size; region; country; weighting factor.