Brussels, 25/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has published the full and final version of the spring Eurobarometer survey (already mentioned in brief). The survey gives the opinions of citizens in the EU, accession countries and the three candidate countries.
Citizens in both parts of Europe have similar views on what are the most important issues facing their countries. The issues most widely mentioned were unemployment, crime and the economic situation. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a greater proportion of respondents in the future Member States felt that ensuring a successful enlargement of the EU should be one of its main priorities. Both surveys showed a similar high level of support for joint decision-making at European level on issues such as defence and foreign policy. Likewise, a majority of both groups feel there is a need for an EU constitution and for each Member State to retain a representative in the Commission. Both groups believe they have a low level of knowledge about the EU, although, if anything, people in the future Member States feel they know more than those in the current 15 Member States.
One area where the two groups do differ is in their attitude to the United States. The future Member States have a more positive view of the US role in ensuring peace, fighting terrorism and poverty, assisting economic growth and protecting the environment. Support for EU membership has grown over the past six months in the future Member States and candidates, as has the belief that membership will bring both personal and national benefits, as has trust in the EU. All future members and candidates strongly support joining the euro, with the exception of Turkey. In the current Member States, most people are generally satisfied with democracy in the EU and support greater cooperation on economic and social matters. The survey includes a special chapter on attitudes to the European Parliament. For current EU citizens, the EU means first and foremost the freedom to travel, study and work throughout the EU. They believe the EU's priorities should be guaranteeing peace and fighting terrorism, unemployment, and poverty.