Eurobarometer 49 (Apr-May 1998)

Attitude to the EU, the institutions of the EU, the European Elections,
the EU enlargement and the Euro.

Topics: 1. general questions on Europe and the Euro and political
extent to which informed: personal opinion leadership; interest in
politics; interest in politics in one´s circle of friends; general
contentment with life; satisfaction with democracy at the level of the
European Union and one´s own country; self-assessment of knowledge
about the European Union; desire for more information about the EU; EU
topics about which more information is desired; most important sources
of information about the policies and institution of the EU; preferred
information channels and information media about the EU; interest in
direct EU information through a telephone or fax hotline or computer;
frequency of use of news broadcasts on the radio and television as well
as reading news in newspapers; possibility to use video recorder, fax,
satellite television, pay TV, teletext, computer, CD-ROM, modem and
Internet; attitude to membership of the country in the EU;
advantageousness of EU membership for one´s own country; expected
development of a self-image as European or remaining member citizen of
the nation-state; knowledge about the designation of the future
European currency; assessment of probability of introduction of the
European currency after 1999; knowledge test about the accompanying
circumstances in introduction and the later development of the Euro;
self-classification of extent to which informed about the Euro;
attitude to an information campaign before introduction of the new
currency; sources of information about the European currency up to now;
approval of a common currency and a European Central bank; attitude to
a common European foreign and security policy; attitude to a European
responsibility for all questions not solved at national level; demand
for support of the European Commission by the majority of the European
Parliament; desire for school instruction about the European
institutions and support of European film and television productions by
the EU; preference for national decision-making authority or decision
at European level in selected political areas; preferred new members of
the EU; most important criteria for accepting new EU members (scale);
attitude to an expansion of the EU and most important effects of an
increase in the European Union (scale); future expectations, hopes and
fears for the new millenium (scale); significance of the European
Parliament and desire for a stronger position of the parliament;
election participation at the last European Election and intended
participation in the election to the European Parliament in June 1999;
representation citizen interests by the European Parliament; areas in
which the European Parliament should play a more significant role. In
the United Kingdom the following was additionally asked: knowledge
about the British presidency of the EU; importance of the presidency in
the council of ministers.

2. interest in politics; self-assessment of political extent to which
informed and political knowledge; assessment of the influence of
politics on personal life; desire for more political interest;
importance of areas of life; frequency of political discussions in
school; most important sources for political information; knowledge
about the number of member countries in the EU; membership in clubs and
organizations.

3. knowledge about the Basque region; general attitude to the Basques;
knowledge about the the Basque region belonging to Spain or France;
development of the Basque region in comparison to Spain; personal trip
and reason for the trip to the Basque region.

4. questions on consumption of food and use of product information:
assessment of the harmlessness of selected food products; most
important guarantors for the safety and harmlessness of food products;
necessity of increased checks to increase the safety of food products;
materials contained that jeopardize the harmlessness of food; preferred
place of purchase of harmless food; assessment of the credibility of
producers, small grocery stores, supermarkets, consumer organizations
as well as national or European institutions regarding the safety of
food; preference for symbols or written description of the quality and
harmlessness of food; product information on the packaging; frequency
of reading best by date, list of materials contained, calorie
information, country of origin, quality seal, recommendations for use
and storage notes; attitude to precise information on product contents
and product effects; attitude to a Europe-wide uniform meaning of light
products; knowledge about the E-Numbers under the materials contained;
attitude to protection of symbols such as ´Bio´; credibility of the
product information on the packaging and conveying adequate
information; attitude to identification of genetically modified
products; assessment of the preference of manufacturers and
distributors for safe or profitable products.

5. questions on the public health system: satisfaction with the public
health system in the country; attitude to a basic governmental support
in the public health system and private provision beyond this; attitude
to a priority for care for young patients rather than older; knowledge
about the European campaign against cancer; interest in information
about early diagnosis signs of cancer. In Germany, France, Italy, the
Netherlands, Great Britain and Sweden the following was additionally
asked: judgement on the income situation of household;
self-classification of condition of health; contact with doctors in the
last two weeks; hospital stay in the last year; attitude to a unlimited
support of all treatments; preferred decider about establishing
permitted and affordable treatments; preferred bearer of the deficits
in the public health system; preferred criteria for establishing the
priority of treating patients and illnesses given hypothetical scarce
financial resources (scale); assumed inclination of the majority of
people on the one hand as well as respondent on the other to to to the
doctor for a selection of minor and serious illness symptoms (scale);
judgement on the precaution chances with cancer.

6. cancer check-up: women were asked: attitude to cancer check-up and
selected precaution tests (scale); willingness to participate in a
national screening program; source of information about the information
campaign run by the European Union on the topic of cancer; talks with
experts about cancer; cancer check-ups conducted in the last few months
or planned in the near future. Men were asked: participation in
prostate cancer and further cancer check-ups in the last three years.

7. sex tourism: knowledge of sex tourism with children; frequency of
discussions with persons over 25 years as well as with persons under 25
years about this topic; assumption about the spread of sex tourismus
with children; assumed countries and continents in which sex tourism
with children takes place; assumptions about the world-wide increase or
decrease of sex tourism; characterization of participants in sex
tourism with children; assumed reasons for this sex tourism; assessment
of sex tourism with children as illegal, morally reprehensible, not
acceptable and avoidable; assumed connections of sex tourism with
children to other social problems, such as e.g. poverty, child abuse,
crime or drug abuse; knowledge about national legal situation regarding
sex tourism with children; preferred governmental measures and
governmental measures actually conducted in one´s country in the fight
against sex tourism with children; desirability of the effort of the
European Union in this area; attention on national campaigns against
this sex tourism and assessment of the effectiveness of such campaigns;
personal conduct in case of noticing of sex tourism in one´s circle of
friends; avoiding destinations well-known for sex tourism with
children; personal contact with this topic in a vacation place.

Demography: nationality; self-classification on a left-right continuum;
marital status; age at conclusion of school education; sex; age; size
of household; composition of household; professional position; head of
household; professional position of head of household; party
preference; household income; possession of a telephone.

Interviewer rating: number of persons present during the interview;
willingness of respondent to cooperate. Also encoded was: date of interview;
start of interview; length of interview; city size.