Brussels, 25/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - Last week's Eurobarometer Report Number 52 (the first published since the appointment of the Prodi Commission) notes there is a move among those taking part in the surveys towards support for the building of Europe. Thus: - 51% of citizens consider belonging to the EU is a good thing (two points up in one half-year period); the Member States most in favour of belonging to the EU are Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, and, during the last 6-month term, positive opinions increased 9 points in Spain and Portugal and 6 points in Austria, compared to the previous term; - European citizens approve most of the current EU priorities, namely measures to combat poverty, to promote employment, internal security, the fight against drugs and organised crime, and consumer and environmental protection. Nonetheless, Eurobarometer notes differences of opinion over enlargement with only 28% of citizens of the opinion that it is a priority, and 59% that it is not; the countries where it is believed to be a priority are Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and Greece.
This Eurobarometer report (available on-line on the Europa site, by consulting the pages of the Directorate General for Education and Culture) comprises chapters on the quality of life of European citizens in the year 2000, the information and knowledge that they have of the EU, the speed of European integration, the European institutions, European elections, the euro and language learning. We give the conclusions reached:
1. The speed of European integration varies from one country to the next. It is highest in Ireland and Spain and the lowest in Belgium (Ed.: despite the presence of the European institutions), Sweden and Italy (Ed.: despite its traditionally pro-European opinion).
2. Importance of the European institutions in the life of citizens: - 75% of those questioned consider the European Parliament is the most important institution followed by the European Commission (68%), the European Central Bank (65%) and the Court of Justice (59%). On the other hand, the European Ombudsman and the Committee of the Regions do not play a major role for 33% of those taking part in the survey. The European Parliament is "extremely" important for Ireland (87%), Luxembourg and Sweden (85% for both), but less so for the United Kingdom (65%) and Germany (69%). The same trend can be seen for the European Commission: Ireland (84%), Luxembourg (83%), United Kingdom (55%) and Germany (65%).
3. Among the EU priority policies, 90% of citizens consider that top priority is the fight against unemployment (from 82% in Denmark to 96% in France), followed up by peace-keeping and defence (89%), the fight against organised crime (88%), the fight against poverty and social exclusion (87%), while only 28% consider the entry of new Member States is a priority. Reform of the institutions with a view to enlargement is a priority for 51% of citizens on average but there are considerable differences from one country to the next: thus, 74% of the Danes compared to 41% of the Finns consider this is a priority. On average, only 43% of those questioned are in favour of EU enlargement: the countries most in favour are Sweden (62%), Denmark (60%) and Greece (57%), while Austrians (35%) and French (34%) show most reticence. The poll reveals that among the countries that citizens hope will join the EU the most, there are two States which are not applicants at the present time: Norway (71%) and Switzerland (70%).
4. Regarding the role of the EU in their daily life over the next five years, 51% of Europeans believe this role will become more important, 31% think it will remain the same role, and 7% believe its role will be less important. If we carry out a country-by-country analysis, Portugal and Greece (both with 64%), and Italy (63%) are the most convinced that the EU will play an increasingly important role in their daily life, and the United Kingdom is the only country where a majority believe things will remain as they are, while the most negative opinions come from Ireland, Spain and Germany.
5. European single currency is considered necessary by 6 citizens out of 10, 8% have no opinion and 32% are quite frankly opposed to it. Taking the countries which are not part of the euro zone, it is noted that Greece (70%) is more in favour of single currency (Ed.: to which it has in fact asked for accession) than the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden. In Denmark and Sweden about 4 citizens out of 10 are in favour of the euro and 5 out of 10 are against. In the United Kingdom there are 25% in favour and 59% against.
6. The perceived importance of the European Parliament's role has greatly increased, compared to the survey in spring 1999, in Portugal (+9 points), Sweden (+8), Greece (+5), Ireland (+5), Austria (+5) and Luxembourg (+3). On the other hand, it fell in the Netherlands (-8), the United Kingdom (-4), France (-2) and Denmark (-5). Regarding the participation in European elections, only 55% of citizens citizens voted in the June 1999 elections), those who voted did so for the following reasons: civic duty (64%), to protect national interests (16%), to support a particular party (16%), the only way to be heard (14%), compulsory voting (13%), in favour of the EU (11%), to support a particular candidate (8%), to give the EP a more important role (8%), other reasons (4%), against the EU (3%);
7. Asked about their knowledge of foreign languages, around half of EU citizens said they can take part in a conversation in a language other than their mother tongue, but with wide variations between the Member States: in Luxembourg, 97% of the population speaks another language (this country has two national languages, French and German, Ed.); the rate is also high in the Netherlands (91%), Denmark (84%) and Sweden (82%). In contrast, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the percentage is markedly lower. English is the most widely spoken language in the EU: it is the mother tongue of 16% of the European population and another 31% of Europeans speak it well enough to hold a conversation. German, the mother tongue of 24% of the EU's population, is spoken by another 8% of Europeans; French, mother tongue of 16% of the EU population, is spoken by another 10%; and Spanish, mother tongue of 10% of the EU population, is spoken by another 4% of Europeans.