EU Neighbourhood Barometer Wave 3 - Spring 2013

Attitudes towards the European Union. Cooperation between the EU and the own country. Trust in institutions. Civil society. Global crisis. Employment.

Topics: 1. Attitudes towards the European Union: life satisfaction; frequency of discussions about political matters on international, national, and local level with friends and relatives; opinion leadership; assessment of the current situation in the following areas: national economy, global economy, personal job situation, financial situation of the own household; expected development in the next twelve months regarding: national economy, personal job situation, financial situation of the own household, national employment situation, personal life in general; most important problems in the own country; general direction things are going in the own country; image of the EU; characteristics that best represent the European Union; assessment of the relations of the own country with the EU; awareness of financial support for the own country provided by the EU in the context of cooperation programmes; knowledge of specific programmes; areas with the highest benefit from current European Union’s policies for the own country; attitude towards the following statements: EU has appropriate level of involvement in the own country, EU brings peace and stability in region surrounding the own country, EU is an important partner of the own country, sufficient common values of own country and EU as the basis for cooperation, EU support contributes a lot to own country’s development, position taken by the EU during the Arab Spring was supportive of local populations; prioritized areas the EU should play a greater role in in the own country.

2. Cooperation between the EU and the own country: attitude towards selected statements: appropriate amount of information on the EU available in the own country, clear communication from the EU regarding the own country, communication from the EU not considering reality of life in the own country; most effective actors in helping economic development in the own country; most effective actors in helping security and stability in the own country; extent of contribution of the following local actors to economic development in the own country: national government, presidency (not in MA, JO, EG), private companies in the own country, national banks, NGOs, religious organisations, regional public authorities, local public authorities; most important areas of cooperation between the EU and the own country; preferred area to focus EU’s development aid for the own country on.

3. Trust in institutions: trust in selected media: printed press, radio, TV, internet; personal account on: facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Vkontakte (only in RU, AM, AZ, BY, GE, MD, UA), Odnoklassniki (only in RU, AM, AZ, BY, GE, MD, UA), Netlog (only in DZ, EG, JO, LB, MA, PS, TN), Lifejournal (only in RU, AM, AZ, BY, UA); frequency of using the aforementioned networks; trust in the following institutions: European Union, United Nations, NATO, Arab League (only in DZ, EG, TN, JO, LB, PS, MA); trust in selected national bodies: national government, national parliament, regional public authorities, local public authorities, political parties; satisfaction with democracy in the own country and in the own region; extent of applicability of the following elements to the own country: freedom of speech, free elections, gender equality, protection of the rights of minorities, independence of justice, freedom of press, rights of vote, respect of human rights, rule of law, good governance, lack of corruption; elements that best describe the concept of democracy.

4. Civil society: awareness of the term ´civil society´; fields of activity of civil society organisations in the own country; activity of each of the following organisations in the own country: chamber of commerce / industry / agriculture, professional associations, trade unions, employers’ organisations, charitable organisations, organisations with specific economic, social, environmental, cultural, or sporting interest; assessment of the impact of each of the aforementioned organisations on the development of the national society; preferred fields of activity of civil society organisations in the own country; trust in civil society organisations regarding the representation of the interest and the will of the citizens; attitude towards selected statements on civil society organisations: can influence decision making at local and regional level, can influence decision making at national level, respondent shares values or interests of some of these organisations and trusts them to influence political decision making in the right way; kind of own political participation in the last two years; membership in one of the aforementioned civil society organisations.

5. Global crisis: assessment of the impact of the crisis on the national economic situation; impact of the economic crisis on the job market has already reached its peak; most effective actor in fighting the effects of the crisis in the own country: national government, European Union, United States, Arab League (only in DZ, EG, TN, JO, LB, PS, MA), NATO (not in LB), a G8 or G20 country, United Nations or one of its agencies (not in IL), Arab funds, private charitable foundations, GUAM Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development (only in MD, GE, UA, AZ), single economic area with other CIS countries (only in AM, AZ, MD, UA, RU, BY), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (only in UA, AM, AZ, GE), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB), private companies, religious organisations; development of poverty in the own country in the last three years; assessment of the measures taken to fight poverty in the own country as appropriate.

6. Employment: concern about respondent himself / herself, partner, or children losing their jobs; expected development of the crisis and the national employment situation in the next two years; number of changes of employer in working life up to date; number of years working for current employer; most important assets for finding a job; confidence in keeping current job in the next months; confidence in having a job in two years’ time; likelihood to find a job in the next six months; preferences regarding kind of new job; assessment of the difficulty to start a new business in the own country; familiarity with the necessary administrative procedures for starting a new business; expected difficulties with regard to selected groups of persons starting a new business: young persons leaving full time education, persons aged 50 years and over, women, persons from an ethnic minority (not in TN), persons from a religious minority; approval of the following statements: life-time jobs with the same employer are a thing of the past, regular training improves job opportunities; use of the following services to find a job: governmental agencies, private agencies, both; usefulness of these services; awareness of governmental support to promote employment; awareness of EU support to promote employment in the own country; impact of the EU on selected issues in the own country: employment, poverty and social exclusion, training programmes to improve job opportunities, minimum standards for working conditions, best practices in employment policies, dialogue between employers and trade unions, reforming national social protection systems, simplification of the processes for starting an own business; estimated share of the population in the own country carrying out undeclared work (in percent); personal acceptance of undeclared work; assumed reasons for doing undeclared work; participation in training courses in the last twelve months; funding of the training by: national government or public organisation, NGO, current employer, EU, respondent himself / herself; usefulness of training with regard to job market needs; own membership or of family member in trade union; attitude towards selected statements with regard to trade unions: trade unions in the own country are useful in defending workers’ rights, working conditions would be worse without trade unions, trade unions are rarely consulted by national authorities when shaping employment laws; trust in trade unions representing workers’ interests; living in foreign country for working reasons in the last twelve months and name of country.

Demography: sex; age; age at end of education; marital status; occupation; professional position; visited or lived in another EU country in the last twelve months for the following purposes: visited for business, visited on holiday, lived or worked, studied; EU countries visited or lived in in the last twelve months; relatives living in another EU country for the following purposes: work, study, other reasons; self-rated social position (scale); financial difficulties during the last year; 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); internet use (at home, at work, at school); type of community.

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; interviewer ID; language of the interview; weighting factor.