Brussels, 30/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - Europeans “broadly” support the initiatives for growth, stability and jobs put forward by the European Union in its EUROPE 2020 strategy. That was what the Spring 2012 Standard Eurobarometer, the findings of which the European Commission published on Friday 27 July, revealed.
Against the current backdrop of economic and financial crisis, the Commission's bi-annual survey reveals that modernising labour markets to create jobs and helping the poor and socially excluded are seen as the most important priorities by almost 80% of Europeans. The survey also shows that Europeans say the headline targets agreed by the EU - such as ensuring three quarters of working age people have jobs - have been pitched at the right level of ambition. The Commission describes people's views on the EUROPE 2020 strategy, the EU's growth strategy, as “encouraging”, particularly in relation to the importance of the initiatives and the level of ambition. Overall, 40% of Europeans (up 2 percentage points from the previous survey of autumn 2011) take the view that the EU is heading in the right direction to emerge from the crisis and face new global challenges.
The Eurobarometer reveals, too, that despite “significant” variations between countries, there are signs that Europeans are becoming less pessimistic, with more people saying that the worst of the crisis is behind us. 30% of Europeans think that the impact of the crisis on the jobs market has already reached its peak (a rise of seven points since the previous survey), even though 24.6% of the labour force in Spain is unemployed. More than eight out of ten Europeans think EU member states should work more closely together as a result of the crisis and more than half believe the EU will emerge stronger in the long term.
Unsurprisingly, while over three quarters of people in Sweden, Luxembourg and Germany say the economic situation is good, less than 5% share this view in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece. (OL/transl.rt)