Eurobarometer 62.1: The Future of the European Union, Vocational Training, Environment, IT at Work, and Public Services, October-November 2004

This round of Eurobarometer surveys diverged from the standard Eurobarometer measures and queried respondents on (1) the European Constitution, (2) the Lisbon Agenda, (3) vocational training, (4) attitudes toward the environment, (5) information and communication technologies in the workplace, and (6) services of general interest. For the first topic, respondents were asked about their knowledge of, and attitudes and opinions towards the draft of the European Constitution, what sources they trusted to obtain information about the Constitution, whether they would exercise the "citizens right of initiative" described in the draft of the Constitution, and likelihood they would vote in a referendum to ratify text of the European Constitution. For the second topic, the Lisbon Agenda, the survey solicited respondents' opinions with respect to the current and future state of the European economy, and the situation of the respondent's nation's economy, employment, environment, social welfare, and quality of life. In addition, respondents were also asked to assess their personal quality of life, financial situation, and employment status, and compare Europe's quality of life and economy with other countries. For the third topic, the survey queried about the respondents' experiences with vocational training such as the extent and nature of information and communication technology training received, sources of funding for such training, recent and future participation in vocational training, and what sorts of training the respondents believed would help them to advance in their careers. In regard to the fourth topic, respondents were asked to identify particular environmental issues that were of concern to them, and whether policy makers' should consider the environment in making decisions about social and economic policies, and employment. In addition, the survey asked respondents to describe personal efforts made in taking care of the environment, and identify the level of government most effective in taking decisions about the environment. The survey also asked several questions pertaining to the fifth topic, information and communication technologies. Respondents were asked to identify the most important technological devices in their daily (both professional and personal) lives, to what extent they made use of computers and the Internet, whether or not they received information and communication technology training, and their ability to telework. Finally, respondents were asked to identify services of general interest (telephone, electric, water, postal, public transit) available to them and which were most used, and provide an opinion about the affordability of these services, and the quality of the services received. Demographic and other background information includes respondent's age, gender, nationality, origin of birth (personal and parental), marital status, left-to-right political self-placement, occupation, age when stopped full-time education, household composition, availability of a fixed or a mobile telephone in the household, type and size of locality, region of residence, and language of interview (select countries).