Eurobarometer 65.4 (Jun-Jul 2006)

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. Discrimination in the European Union, 2. Fighting against organised crime (witness protection, identity fraud, tax fraud), 3. Science and research (biological and medical research), 4. Justice, freedom and security policy areas, 5. Intelligent systems in vehicles, 6. European Union Humanitarian Aid (ECHO).

Topics: 1. Discrimination in the European Union: perceived extent of discrimination in the own country with regard to: ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability; development of the extent of discrimination in the own country with regard to the aforementioned characteristics compared to five years ago; attitude towards the following statements on discrimination in the own country: people of different ethnic origin are more often being controlled by the police than the rest of the population, homosexuality is still a taboo, people over 50 are often considered as no longer capable of working efficiently, everyone is free to practice his / her belief; attitude towards selected statements: people of different ethnic origin enrich culture of own country, getting into nightclubs is harder for people of different ethnic origin, family responsibilities are an obstacle for women to accessing management positions, difficult for homosexuals to state their sexual orientation in the workplace, wearing of visible religious symbols in the workplace is acceptable, financial support for disabled persons in order to eliminate physical obstacles; disadvantageous criteria for equally qualified applicants in a recruiting process: name, address, way of speaking, skin colour or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, expression of religious belief, smoker, look physical appearance; advantageousness of belonging to the following groups: different ethnic origin than the rest of the population, Roma, aged under 25, men, homosexual, aged over 50, disabled, different religion, women; likelihood to get a job, be accepted for training or get promoted for the following people with equivalent qualifications: woman compared with a man, person aged over 50 compared with a person under 50, disabled person compared with an able-bodied person, foreigner compared to a national, coloured person compared to a white person, person with different ethnic origin, homosexual person, person with different religion, person aged under 25 compared to a person over 25; attitude towards increasing the share of selected groups: members of parliament of different ethnic origin, female members of parliament, women in management positions, people aged over 50 in companies, disabled people in the workplace; attitude towards the adoption of specific measures to provide equal opportunities in the field of employment on the basis of the following characteristics: ethnic origin, gender, age, religious belief, disability, sexual orientation; assessment of the efforts in the own country to fight discrimination as sufficient; most important players in fighting discrimination; knowledge test on the existence of national laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of: ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability; preferred points of contact in case of experienced discrimination: national body for equal treatment, lawyer to take legal action, trade union, association, international institutions, EU; awareness of own rights in case of being a victim of discrimination or harassment; attitude towards providing anonymous information as part of a census in order to fight discrimination about: ethnic origin, religion, health situation, sexual orientation.

2. Fighting against organised crime (witness protection, identity fraud, tax fraud): preference for witness protection in the following cases: all kinds of crime, only in certain cases, not in any circumstances; preference for witness protection: before trial, during trial, after trial; preference for witness protection for the following groups of persons: anyone who witnessed a crime and feels in danger, anyone who witnessed a crime and feels in danger and provides relevant information for the case, only if the witness is a victim of the crime; attitude towards protecting members of criminal organisations if they provide relevant information for the case; attitude towards an EU policy on cross-border and international cooperation on witness protection; estimated extent of identity fraud in the own country; assessment of the national measures against identity fraud as sufficient; assessment of the efficiency of tackling the issue of identity fraud on European rather than on national level; estimated extent of tax fraud in the own country; assessment of the national measures against tax fraud as sufficient; assessment of the efficiency of tackling the issue of tax fraud on European rather than on national level; attitude towards an exchange of personal tax information between EU member states in order to fight cross-border financial crime.

3. Science and research (biological and medical research): interest in the following topics: nature and environment, economic and social matters, art and literature, science and technology, sports and outdoor activities, medical and health research, home and gardening, European and international news, celebrities and entertainment; awareness of collaborative research projects in the fields of biology or medical sciences with colleagues from different EU countries; awareness of the EU funding the aforementioned projects; most common way of the information on the existence of such projects: respondent was given the information explicitly, deduction from other information, in the context of searching for information on sciences or medicine; main sources of information; reasons for not being aware of EU-funded projects in the fields of science and / or medical research; main sources of information on science and / or medical research; reasons for not being interested in science and / or medical research; main sources of information on personal subjects of interest; interest in selected aspects of biological and medical research: research results, launch of research projects and main research objectives, the way research is carried out; most trustworthy institutions or persons with regard to information on biological and medical research: museums or exhibitions, university or government laboratory researchers, medical staff, teachers, colleagues or friends, government, international institutions, NGOs, specialized journalists, TV journalists, other journalists; most important aspects of interest with regard to research on major diseases; chronic diseases of respondent or family member.

4. Justice, freedom and security policy areas: attitude towards more decision making on EU level in the following fields: asylum and migration policy, exchange of police and judicial information between member states, fight against organised crime, fight against drug abuse, control of external borders, fight against terrorism, protection of fundamental rights; prioritized fields of EU action.

5. Intelligent systems in vehicles: car use: own car, company or fleet car, use someone else’s car, rarely or never drive, no driving licence; mainly used type of roads: motorways, urban roads, rural roads, two or three of these equally; driven kilometres per year; size of used car; new or second hand car; age of the car; most important criteria with regard to the purchase of a car; usefulness of selected car safety systems and desired equipment of the next car with each of these systems: ABS, ESP, Blind Spot Monitoring System, adaptive head lights, obstacle and collision warning, lane departure warning system, Ecall, real time traffic and travel information, speed alert, vigilance monitoring of the driver; importance of each of the following reasons for not having the aforementioned car safety systems: undermining driver’s freedom, reducing driver’s responsiveness and alertness by creating an artificial feeling of being protected, fear of excessive visual and sound warnings, fear of unreliable electronic systems, difficulty to understand how these systems work, too expensive to buy, too expensive to service, cars are already safe enough; most trustworthy institutions or persons with regard to information on car safety systems: public authorities, car manufacturers, automobile clubs, consumer associations, media in general, specialized media, car dealers, driving schools, insurance companies, family and friends, no interest; preferred measure of public authorities in order to promote the development of car safety systems: large scale communication campaigns, tax incentives for cars equipped with these systems, making these systems mandatory by law, promote technological research and development; assessment of an emergency call system in the car as (split A): risk of intrusion that deters respondent from having such a system, minor inconvenience, compared to the usefulness of the system, no inconvenience; assessment of real time traffic and travel information systems in the car as (split B): risk of intrusion that deters respondent from having such a system, minor inconvenience, compared to the usefulness of the system, no inconvenience.

6. European Union Humanitarian Aid (ECHO): attitude towards EU humanitarian aid for victims of natural disasters or conflicts outside the EU; importance of the EU funding humanitarian aid activities outside the European Union; naming and awareness of organisations involved in or funding humanitarian aid: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, World Food Programme, Red Cross, Europe (including EU, European Commission, European Community), NGOs; awareness of and self-rated knowledge on EU humanitarian aid activities outside the EU; importance of the European citizens being informed about humanitarian aid activities funded by the European Union; most efficient ways of giving humanitarian aid: on national level, through the European Commission as it guarantees better use of financial resources, through the European Commission as needs are better satisfied, through the European Commission as it shows Europeans’ sympathy for victims; importance of each of the following measures of humanitarian aid (scale): increase funding, dedicate a share of the national budget to humanitarian aid, ensure equal treatment of victims of highly publicized and of forgotten crises, improve international response capacity to humanitarian crises, focus on risk reduction and disaster preparedness.

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; country of birth; parents’ country of birth; own a mobile phone and fixed (landline) phone; friendship or acquaintance with: people of different ethnic origin, Roma, homosexuals, disabled persons, persons with different religious affiliation; religious denomination; limitation in daily activities due to health problems.

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; questionnaire split; interviewer ID; weighting factor.