Brussels, 18/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission published the full report of the last "Eurobarometer" survey, carried out in April and May, of which it had already published some of the results in July. In July it stressed the relative lack of change in citizens' responses to the standard questions, namely their country's membership of the EU, their confidence in European institutions, their support for CFSP, CESDP and the euro and enlargement. It also noted a slight rise in citizens' indifference to whether or not their country was a member of the EU (see EUROPE of 18 July, p.4). The full survey results provide some additional interesting information, in areas such as:
Support for a European Constitution. Most people in the fifteen Member States support this idea, with support ranging from 76% in Greece to 42% in Denmark (Italy 75%, the Netherlands 70%, Belgium 67%, Sweden 65%, France 64%, Germany 64%, Austria 61%, Spain 59%, Luxembourg 57%, Ireland 56%, Portugal 55%, Finland 49% and the United Kingdom 44%). A large number gave "no opinion" (undecided), ranging from 13% in Greece to 47% in the United Kingdom, and therefore the level of outright opposition to a Constitution is low, apart from in Denmark (37%) and Finland (32%).
Decision-making in an enlarged Europe. When asked how EU decisions should be taken after the next wave of enlargement, 48% of the Europeans polled favoured qualified majority voting (48%), compared with 35% who would prefer unanimous voting. The Dutch are by far the most supportive of qualified majority voting (68%), followed by the Belgians (57%) and the Luxemburgers (50%). Greece is the only country where the majority of those polled (60%) prefer unanimous voting. Compared with last year, qualified majority voting has sharply risen in popularity in Belgium (+4%), the Netherlands (+4%) and Finland (+3%). Italy (+10%) and Greece (+9%) are the only Member States where support for unanimous voting rose significantly.
Dialogue on Europe. The Eurobarometer indicates that only 26% of the EU's citizens are interested in taking part in dialogue on Europe, as opposed to 62% who say they are not interested. Levels of interest vary sharply from one country to the next, from 50% in Greece (the highest figure) to 36% in Denmark, 33% in Sweden, 32% in France and 30% in both Italy and Portugal. Finland (76%) and Belgium (73%) are the countries where fewest citizens are interested in taking part in dialogue. Among those who are interested, 48% want to be able to give their point of view on how Europe is shaping up; 43% want to exchange views with fellow countrymen and women; and 37% want to exchange views with citizens from other EU countries; 36% want to take part because they are interested in European affairs; and 35% want to exchange views with politicians from their country of origin.
Globalisation. When asked "Who do you trust the most to monitor the impact of globalisation?", the vast majority on average replied the European Union (36%), compared with 25% for their own governments. The EU is therefore the institution in which Europeans place the most trust for monitoring the impact of globalisation, except in France and the United Kingdom. In France, most citizens have confidence in themselves, whereas in the United Kingdom, people tend to trust the government. The proportion of those polled who chose the EU ranged from 18% in the United Kingdom to 50% in the Netherlands; those selecting the government of their country ranged from 14% in Italy and Sweden to 37% in Luxembourg; while the proportion of those polled who have confidence in themselves ranges from 13% in Ireland to 35% in France.