Brussels, 12/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - According to a special Eurobarometer report - Europeans 2014 - published on Monday 12 May, 59% of people surveyed “tend not to trust” the European Union (81% in Greece, 66% in the UK, 67% in Spain, 74% in Cyprus, 63% in France, 69% in Italy and 70% in Portugal), which does not augur well before the European elections. Only 32% of Europeans say they trust the EU.
The EU institutions are being rebuked. Only 34% of people surveyed believe that the European Parliament is worthy of trust - in other words, a drop of 5 percentage points compared with November 2013. 53% of Europeans tend not to trust it (+5 percentage points).
Trust in the European Commission is eroding (33% trust it - in other words, 2 percentage points fewer, while 51% do not trust it - in other words, +4 points). 31% of the people surveyed have confidence in the European Central Bank (54% tend not to trust it). Trust with regard to the EU remains above that which citizens have towards national parliaments (27%, -2 percentage points) and national governments (26%, +3 percentage points). At the same time, over half of Europeans (53%, or +2 percentage points) state that that they are positive about the future of the EU.
The survey also shows that 34% of Europeans have a positive image of the EU (3 percentage points more than when the autumn Eurobarometer was published in November 2013). 26% state that they have a negative image.
A little optimism. Citizens are increasingly optimistic about the economic outlook in Europe. In 20 of the 28 member states, European citizens think that the economic situation should improve in their home country over the next 12 months. In addition, 44% believe that the impact of the crisis on employment has already reached its peak. This represents a rise of 4 percentage points since the survey was carried out in autumn 2013. However, nearly half of Europeans (49%) think that unemployment is the most serious issue their country is currently facing.
45% of people surveyed believe that more decisions should be taken at the EU level - especially in Spain (66%), Portugal (66%) and Belgium (64%). 46% think the opposite (including 75% in Sweden, 74% in Finland, 66% in the UK and 61% in Germany). The project for the United States of Europe is a good idea for only 34% of Europeans (-18 percentage points) and a bad idea for 40% of them.
The Commission believes that the efforts it has made “to reach out to citizens are paying off”. It has, for example, organised 51 citizens' dialogues across Europe and sought to make the upcoming European elections more relevant to citizens by recommending political parties to nominate lead candidates.
The special Eurobarometer published today is based on a representative sample of people from all 28 EU member states. In total, nearly 28,000 citizens aged 15 and older were interviewed between 15 and 24 March 2014. (LC)