Eurobarometer 48.0 (Oct-Nov 1997)

Attitude to the EU, European unification and the currency union.
Attitudes, knowledge, expectations, preferences as well as ideas about
the further development of the EU. Vacation behavior. Topics:
citizenship (multiple responses possible); interest in politics;
personal opinion leadership; future expectations in the areas of
economic situation of the country, one´s own financial situation,
employment situation in the country, personal employment situation and
life in general; satisfaction with democracy at country level as well
as in Europe; trust in media, the police, church, military, trade
unions, parties, large concerns as well as national and supranational
institutions; most important sources of information or information
channels about the EU and preferred means of information about the EU;
media usage; judgement on the extent and quality of reporting about
European affairs in the media; judgement on the membership of the
country in the EU; advantageousness of this membership; judgement on
the progress of European unification and personally preferred
unification progress; attitude to a common European currency, foreign
policy and defense policy; attitude to support of the president and the
members of the European Commission by a majority of the European
Parliament; attitude to equal rights for the European Parliament
regarding the Council of Ministers; attitude to a local passive and
active right to vote for all Europeans; attitude to school instruction
about the job of the European institutions; attitude to a subsidy for
European film and television productions; preference for national or
European decision power in selected political areas; preference for a
reduction of inflation or unemployment; attitude to a common European
currency; self-assessment of extent to which informed about the Euro;
attitude to an information campaign before introduction of the common
European currency; desired priorities in EU policies, such as e.g.
fight against poverty, accepting new member countries, environmental
protection, consumer protection, fighting unemployment, reform of EU
institutions, securing of peace in Europe and protection of personal
rights and democratic principles in Europe; actually expected as well
as desired significance of the European Union in the next century for
personal life of respondent; preferred new EU member countries;
criteria for acceptance of new countries; most important effects of
expansion of the EU by additional member countries; preference for
budget increase or division of what is available among additional
member countries in selected political areas such as agriculture,
research, support of weak regions, education and infrastructure;
knowledge about the Amsterdam treaty and approval of a referendum in
one´s country; personal decision behavior in case of such a referendum;
positive or negative expectations of the next century in selected
political, personal and social areas (scale); self-assessment of
tolerance regarding members of other nationalities, races and religions
in one´s country; acceptance of immigrants from the southern
Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, applicants for political asylum and
citizens from other countries of the EU; attitude to the number of
foreigners in one´s country; judgement on selected goals of European
agricultural policy; perception of reporting about the European
Parliament in the media; the significance of the European Parliament
for the EU; desire for stronger significance of the European
Parliament; election participation at the last European Election and
voting intent in the coming election to the European Parliament;
assessment of the representation of interests of the European citizens
by the European Parliament; most important interests that should be
represented by the European Parliament; knowledge about the Basque
region and its location; assessment of the state of development of the
Basque region; image of the Basques as patriotic, hospitable, violent,
industrious etc. Vacation: vacation in the last few years; reasons for
not going on vacation; vacation month; vacation duration and country
visited on vacation for up to 6 vacation trips in the survey year;
vacation spartner; preferred type of countryside such as mountains,
lakes or cities; means of transport on the trip there as well as use of
various means of transport during the vacation; type of vacation
housing used; primary criteria for the choice of vacation destination;
vacation costs and information on proportion for travel and housing;
means of payment before start of vacation and during vacation; most
important product groups in vacation purchases; type of vacation
attractions seen; vacation organized through a travel agency; sources
of information used for vacation planning; type of information used
before decision for vacation destination; obtaining information
material from tourist information offices and evaluation of such
information offices; most important problems in vacation preparation as
well as in the course of the vacation; general vacation satisfaction;
vacation plans for next year and trip duration; preferred country to
visit on this vacation. Demography: self-classification on a left-right
continuum; marital status; age at termination of school or university;
sex; age; number of children and adults in household; current
employment; primary earner in household and his occupation; head of
household. Only in Germany (East and West) as well as in Spain, France,
Italy and in the United Kingdom the following additional questions were
posed: image of the European Union; trust in the individual EU
countries in the areas of politics, economy, business relations and
European orientation; self-assessment of observing the political events
in Italy; judgement on the political as well as economic situation in
Italy (scale); most important political tasks of the EU; assumed
improvement in the decision-making process in the European Union
through the Amsterdam treaty. In Luxembourg the following additional
question was posed: knowledge and significance of the presidency of
Luxembourg in the Council of Ministers of the EU. In Ireland the
following additional question was posed: attitude to participation of
the country in a common European defense policy. Also encoded was: date
of interview; time of start of interview; length of interview; number
of persons present during interview; willingness of respondent to
cooperate; possession of a telephone.