But enlargement less popular than ever
The EU identity crisis turned a corner this week with the publication on Thursday of the Spring Standard Eurobarometer, which showed a significant increase in the support for EU membership among citizens, as well as in the image of the EU.
However, aspiring member states such as Turkey will not be heartened by the fact that enlargement suffers from weaker support among the public opinion.
The three main indicators covering the general attitude towards the European Union show an unambiguous positive development in the public opinion.
Compared to the last survey in the autumn 2005, support for EU membership has increased by 5 points (55% vs. 50%), image of the EU by 6 points (50% vs. 44%) and perceived benefits of the membership by 2 points (54% vs. 52%).
In parallel, negative opinions on these three indicators have been decreasing, in particular for the image of the EU (15% vs. 20%).
New PR machine is paying off
Since the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty by the Netherlands and France last year, the EU has been hard at work trying to present its better side–protection of consumers, of small business and of citizens’ health–rather than its ‘bureaucratic bully from Brussels’ side.
The Commission has pledged to tear up a heap of rules that burden small busienss, has tried very hard (and successfully) to keep everyone informed about bird flu and every new proposal from the European Commission now comes with a preamble about why it benefits citizens.
Margot Wallström, who as Vice-President of the European Commission the main Commissioner responsible for PR, has led this drive.
“The only way for the European Union to regain trust of its citizens is by delivering results: security, better opportunities in the labour market and better quality of life,” she said in response to the survey. “These are the issues on which we should focus during the Finnish presidency. Citizens expect also that the Union leaders explain better benefits of enlargement.”
Unemployment still a worry
The first concern of the European citizens remains by far unemployment (49%, +5 % compared to the autumn 2005), now followed by crime (24% – no change) and the economic situation (23%, – 3 %) which now comes in third position. In fourth position, the healthcare system is also an issue for 18% of Europeans (+3 %).
The support for the concept of a constitution for the EU has slightly decreased since the last survey in the autumn 2005 (61%, -2 %), coming back to the level reached in spring 2005. 22% of citizens are opposed to the concept of a European constitution and 17% do not know. With 62% of positive opinions, France is just above the EU average and with 59%, the Netherlands are just below.
Support for enlargement slides
Support of the public opinion to further enlargement is decreasing. While 45% of citizens support it (41% in the EU 15 and 66% in the new Member States), 42% are against. In the autumn 2005, the figures were respectively 49% and 39%. It is to be noted that in Turkey favourable opinions to further enlargement dropped by 7%, reaching now 45%.
Europeans are rather satisfied with the way democracy works in the European Union. Satisfaction rate reaches 50% (48% in the EU 15 and 59% in the new Member States, +1% compared to the last survey) while dissatisfaction is at 34% (-1 %). These are the most positive scores achieved for this question in the last ten years. However, if 36% (+2 %) of EU citizens agree with statement “my voice counts in the European Union”, there are still who 54% disagree with it, although this figure decreased by 5 % since the autumn 2005.
This ‘Standard Eurobarometer’ survey was conducted through face to face interviews by TNS Opinion & Social. A total of 29 220 people were interviewed between 27 March and 1 May 2006. The report is available on the public opinion web page in the Europa web site: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm
Fiona Mullen
