Flash Eurobarometer 189b (EU communication and the citizens - Decision Makers)

Attitudes of decision makers towards the EU communication policy.<br>Topics: assessment of the own country’s membership in the EU as a good thing; importance to be informed about European politics for: personal reasons, professional reasons, both; most important reasons for need of information; assessment of the provision of information on European institutions and their activities to the citizens by the national government; usefulness of shared responsibilities between the EU and national actors with regard to providing information on EU issues: not useful, useful on a limited number of topics, useful under all circumstances; attitude towards the following statements on information about European Union issues: citizens should have the right on fair and full information, information should be widely available in all languages and easily to understand, presentation of different opinions, citizens and representative organisations should have the right and means to express their views, policy / decision making and administration should be transparent and as visible as possible; primarily responsible body for informing citizens about the EU and the effect on citizens’ life: national government, national parliament and political parties, European Parliament, European Commission, NGOs, media; primarily responsible body for taking into account citizens’ wishes on European issues: national government, national parliament and political parties, European Parliament, European Commission, NGOs; attitude towards selected measures with regard to building a more efficient communication on European Union matters: upgrading a central EU audio-visual service (Europe by Satellite), providing training for professionals, setting up an Observatory of European public opinion; assessment of the appropriateness of media coverage with European Union issues in the own country; assessment of the information as: easy to understand, interesting, useful; reception of TV channels from other EU countries; frequency of watching TV channels from other EU countries; interest in a dedicated public European Union TV channel; most important source of information on EU matters on the web; preferred statement about politicians in the national parliament: should regularly discuss issues related to the future of the EU, should focus on national affairs; assessment of EU issues belonging to the own country’s: domestic policy, foreign policy; preferred statement on commissioners: should continuously live and work in Brussels in order to carry out their tasks in the commission properly, should partly live and work in their home country in order to remain in close contact to citizens; EU decision with impact on personal life; assessment of the information received on the aforementioned decision; source of the information; assessment of EU institutions as more open, accessible, and responsive than institutions of the own country.

Demography: sex; age; frequency of dealing with EU issues; target group specification; voting behaviour in last national election; sub-group specification.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID; interviewer ID; language of the interview; country; date of interview; time of the beginning of the interview; duration of the interview; weighting factor.