Eurobarometer 65.3 (May-Jun 2006)

The EU and its neighbouring countries. Access to and evaluation of services of general interest. Occupation and mobility. Employment and social policy. Attitude towards lifelong education. Energy technologies. Family planning in Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, and Turkey.

Topics: Political knowledge: knowledge of the number of member states of the European Union, and enumeration of five candidate countries that will join the EU in a near future; contact with people from selected countries; knowledge test on the neighbouring countries of the EU; attitude towards the enlargement of the EU (scale: slow enlargement, creation of specific types of relationships to neighbouring countries parallel to the current enlargement process, no specific relationships to other countries after the completion of the present enlargement process; values that best represent the European Union; knowledge of the European Neighbourhood Policy; importance of special relationships with the 16 neighbouring countries that do not have accession prospect regarding: immigration, environment, energy, research and innovation, democracy, crime, economic development, education and training, terrorism; attitude towards the cooperation of the EU with neighbouring countries (scale: common values, reduction of conflicts in Europe, promotion of democracy in these countries, reduction of illegal immigration into the EU, reduction of relationships with countries with no willingness to progress, promoting reforms in these countries could endanger peace and stability in the EU, will of the neighbouring countries to cooperate to reform themselves); attitude towards support of these countries by the EU (scale: ensuring prosperity of the EU, very expensive, opportunities for expansion for EU companies, easier access to EU markets); interest in developments in countries neighbouring the EU; assessment of the EU´s relations with its neighbouring countries.

Only in the EU 25 was asked: services of general interest: difficulties accessing selected services: mobile telephone networks, fixed telephone networks, dial-up or broadband internet, electricity supply networks, gas supply networks, water supply networks, postal services, local transport networks, rail network, banking system through a current account; actually used services; kind of difficulties accessing postal services and the banking system; negative effect from the difficulties accessing postal services and the banking system on daily life; affordability and importance in daily life of: mobile telephone services, fixed telephone services, internet, electricity supply services, gas supply services, water supply services, postal services, local transport services, rail services, and current bank account; assessment of the comparability of offers from different mobile, fixed telephone, or internet services providers, banks, or financial institutions; attempted or intended change of service providers in the above fields; assessment of the terms and conditions of the contract with the provider; complaints made to a service provider or a complaint handling body, assessment of the management of the complaint through the service provider; assessment of consumer protection in the areas mentioned above; knowledge of: European Social Fund (ESF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Erasmus Programme, the European Year of Mobility 2006, and the EU´s Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs; knowledge test on the activities of the European Social Fund; assessment of the share of the EU budget used for the European Social Fund; employment situation: number of changes of employer; duration of current or last employment; most important assets for a successful job search; short-term and medium-term personal job security; participation in training courses in the last year; funding of the training; training as a necessity; personal reasons not to participate in training courses; assessment of the own chances to find a new job (scale); kind of job search after a presumed job loss (application locally or in another place, for a similar or another kind of job, or self-employment); knowledge test regarding the percentage of unemployment benefits compared to the current income.

In addition to the EU 25 also in Croatia, Romania, Turkey, and Bulgaria was asked: attitude towards flexibility in the field of employment (scale: no longer life-time jobs with the same employer, more flexible work contracts encourage job creation, ability to change jobs easily as an advantage to help people find jobs, too early retirement, regular training improves job opportunities); assessment of the effectiveness of selected measures for getting more people into work (more childcare facilities and care for elderly and other dependent people, discouraging early retirement, increasing differences in income between working and non-working people, promoting geographical mobility, supporting people who want to start their own business, transforming undeclared work into regular jobs, regular training at work); assessment of the EU´s influence on selected areas of employment and social policies (minimum standards for working conditions throughout the EU, creating new job opportunities and fighting unemployment, reducing regional disparities in unemployment, exchanging successful employment policies among EU member states, improving access to education and training, promoting dialogue between employers and trade unions, fighting against social exclusion and poverty, promoting gender equality, combating other forms of discrimination, coordinating the reforms of the national systems of social protection such as pensions and healthcare); interest in information on employment and social policies funded by the EU; assessment of the image of the EU measures on employment and social affairs.

Again, only in EU 25: energy technologies: most important problems in the own country; associations regarding energy; knowledge of selected methods of energy production; attitude towards the use of selected energy sources in the own country (scale); consumer of the largest share of energy in the country; most used energy sources in the country at present and in thirty years; assumed independence of the own country and the EU from energy imports; assessment of the security of supply: national electricity blackout, disruptions in gas supply, doubling of energy prices, terrorist attack on energy infrastructure; expected development in the energy sector til 2035 (scale: independence of energy coming from abroad, legal punishment of energy waste, cars only for rich people, no environmental pollution through advanced use of energy, coupons for energy); trust in information on energy issues coming from the following institutions: national government, regional or local government, EU, energy companies, scientists, environmental protection and consumer organisations, journalists, and political parties; preferred focuses of national energy policy; attitude towards a prioritization of energy related research in the EU (scale); preferred emphasis of energy research; importance of reducing energy consumption in the own country (scale); own measures of energy saving.

Additionally, only in Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, and Turkey was asked: preferred measures to reduce potential shortages in the work force; ideal number of children for a family in general and for the respondent; idea of the ideal number of children in the own adolescence; fulfilment of this idea; actual number of children; age at first child; assessment of the timing of the first child; number of children still intended to have and certainty to reach this goal; wish to have another child in the next three years; importance of selected areas for family planning (scale: financial situation, working situation and health of mother and father, housing conditions, support from the partner, childcare provision, parental leave or care leave, costs); ideal age for a woman and a man to have the first child; maximum age for parenthood; orientation of the own number of children according to the family of origin or to friends and relatives; predictability of the personal household situation; expectations for the future development of the household situation; attitude towards gender roles (scale: equivalent relationship of working and non-working mothers to their children, pre-school children suffer from the occupation of their mother, family life suffers from full-time employment of a woman, man and woman should equally contribute to the household income, woman should take care of household and children while the man goes out to work, family life suffers when men concentrate too much on work).

Demography: nationality; left-right self-placement; marital status; sex; age; age at end of education; occupation; type of community; household composition and household size; national provenance of the respondent and his parents (migration background); 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); religious denomination; church attendance.

Also encoded was: Date of interview; time of the beginning of the interview; duration of the interview; number of persons present during the interview; respondent cooperation; interview language (only in Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Malta and Turkey); size of locality; region; weighting factor; interviewer ID.