Eurobarometer 52.0 (1999)

The major topics are:1. Political attitudes and questions on the European Union. Information habits.2. Attitude to the European Parliament.3. Attitude to the common currency.4. Attitude to financial services.Topics:1. Political attitudes and questions on the European Union:nationality (multiple responses possible);native language,knowledge of foreign languages andassessment of the two most useful languages besides one's own native language;interest in politics;personal opinion leadership;future expectations in the areas of the economic situation of the country,one's own financial situation, employment situation in the country,personal employment situation and life in general;anticipated personal identity in the near future asEuropean citizen or national citizen;national pride;satisfaction with democracy at country level as well as in Europe;media usage;preferred TV broadcasts and newspapers according to countries;preferred topics;self-assessment of extent to which informed about the EU,its policies and its institutions;sources of information used or information channels about the EU,its policies and its institutions;preferred means of information about the EU;judgement on membership of the country in the EU;advantageousness of this membership;assessment of the current speed of integration of Europe and preferred speed;expected and hoped for significance of the European Unionfor daily life of respondent in five years;knowledge, significance and trust in selected European institutions;assumed European cultural identity;attitude to a common European currency, foreign policy and defense policy;attitude to a European Central bank independent of the member countries andresponsible to the European Parliament;attitude to responsibility of the EU for mattersthat cannot effectively be dealt with at national, regional and local level;attitude to support of the president and members of the European Commissionby a majority of the European Parliament;attitude to school instruction about the work of European institutions;preference for national or European decision power in selected political areas;desired priorities in EU policies, such as e.g. fight against poverty,introduction of the Euro, environmental protection, consumer protection,fighting unemployment, reform of EU institutions, fight against crime,securing of peace andprotection of personal rights and democratic principles in Europe;preferred countries for new acceptance into the EU;criteria for new acceptance of countries.2. Attitude to the European Parliament:perception of reporting about the European Parliament in the media;the significance of the European Parliament for the EU;desire for a greater significance of the European Parliament;election participation at the last European Election,reasons for participation or non-participation andintent to participate in the next European Election;trust in the European Commission, the national parliament,in the national government and in the European Parliament;assessment of the power of the European Parliament and the national parliament;perceived activities in the election campaign;the significance of the distribution of parties and candidatesin the European Parliament.3. Attitude to the common currency:self-assessment of extent to which informed about the Euro;sources of information already used or information channels about the Euro;personal interest in the Euro (scale);status of knowledge about the value of the Euro andthe time of currency conversion;opportunities to pay in Euro already used in the country andin member countries;reasons for previous non-use of the Euro;personally expected start of use of the Euro;advantageousness of Euro payments;investments already made in Euro such as e.g. life insurance;desired point in time for bank account conversion;pricing noticed in Euro;inclination of respondent to convert Euro prices into national currency andvice versa;expected difficulties with the introduction of Euro currency in general andfor the respondent personally.4. Attitude to financial services:attitude to bank services, loans, mortgages and insurance companies;trust in national legislation on standard financial services as well astelephone banking and Internet use;approval of the harmonization of consumer protection in all member countries;approval of EU measures for consumer protection in the use of new technologies;obstacles to the use of financial services in the EU;preferred means of payment with a purchase more than 100 Euro in the countryand in member countries;reason for the preference for means of payment;payment possibilities already used with telephone and Internet;reasons for non-use of payment possibilities with telephone and Internet;willingness to use a pre-paid card for a minor purchase in the country andabroad;bank account possession;presence of a loan for more than twelve months, a credit card,a store credit card, a bank account overdraft, a mortgage of less than 10 years,10 to 20 years and more than 20 years.Demography:self-classification on a left-right continuum;marital status;age at termination of school education;sex;age (classified);size of household;number of children in household;current occupational position;head of household;primary earner in household and his occupation;preferred party for the next national elections;household income;degree of urbanization;regional affiliation;native language.Also encoded was:date of interview;time of start of interview;length of interview;number of persons present during the interview;willingness of respondent to cooperate;city size;region;possession of a telephone;interview language.