Eurobarometer 86.1 (2016)

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 the following modules are included: 1. Parlemeter 2016, 2. Future of Europe, 3. Media pluralism and democracy.<br>Topics: 1. Parlemeter 2016: recent reception of media reports on the European Parliament; self-rated knowledge about the activities of the European Parliament; image of the European Parliament; desired importance of the role of the European Parliament; seat allocation of the MEPs according to nationality or to political affinities; adoption of the European Parliament’s decisions according to: interests of the member states from which the MEPs are coming, political affinities of the MEPs, both; preferred policies at EU level to be promoted by the European Parliament; prioritized values to be defended by the European Parliament; things that bring citizens of different EU member states together are more important than things that separate; most important elements of the European identity; most important aspects in strengthening the feeling of being a European citizen; assessment of the own country’s membership in the EU as a good thing; benefits from the EU membership and reasons for benefit.

2. Future of Europe: main assets and main challenges of the EU; preferred issues to be emphasized by society in order to face global challenges; attitude towards a ´two speed Europe´; assessment of the EU’s current and expected influence in 2030 compared to: the USA, Japan, China, India, Brazil, and Russia; embodiment of selected values by the EU compared to other countries: respect for nature and environment, social equality and solidarity, peace, progress and innovation, freedom of opinion, tolerance and openness, respect for history; image of the following countries or group of countries: EU, Germany, France, United Kingdom, USA, Russia, China; most important political issues for the future of Europe; preference for more decision-making at the European level in selected policy areas; attitude towards selected statements: EU is a place of stability in a troubled world, free-market economy should go with a high level of social protection, globalisation threatens national identity, EU offers a future perspective for European youth, recognition of people’s interests by national political system, rise of political parties protesting against traditional political elites is a matter of concern, everyone in the own country has a chance to succeed in life; expectations regarding the life of future generations in the EU.

3. Media pluralism and democracy: attitude towards selected statements on the situation of the media in the own country: provide trustworthy information, provide a diversity of views and opinions, provide information free from political or commercial pressure, public service media are free from political pressure; assessment of freedom and independence of the national media compared to five years ago; assessment of the diversity of views and opinions in the national media compared to five years ago; reliability of the following media: TV, radio, newspapers, social media; awareness of the monitoring authority for audio-visual media in the own country; assessment of the independence of the monitoring authority from political, governmental, or commercial pressures; following of and participation in debates on social media; awareness of abuse, hate speech, or threats on social media; consequences on own engagement in online debates.

Demography: nationality; left-right self-placement; marital status; age at end of education; sex; age; 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); financial difficulties during the last year; internet use (at home, at work, at school); self-reported belonging to the working class, the middle class or the upper class of society; life satisfaction; frequency of discussions about political matters on national, European, and local level; opinion leadership; own voice counts in the own country and in the EU; image of the EU.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country; 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; nation group; weighting factor.