While the results of Eurobarometer 66 partly indicated a fall in support for EU membership, the Netherlands and France (two countries in which the Constitution was roundly rejected in 2005) are now more supportive of the Treaty (with 59% and 56% respectively now in favour, acording to the poll).
However, there are still doubts, as a major survey recently undertaken in the Netherlands showed that more than 68% of the Dutch would still vote against the draft Constitution and last month's parliamentary elections were won by parties of a strong Eurosceptic persuasion.
When asked by EurActiv, the Commission was not able to explain the sudden opinion reversal in both member states.
Other interesting results from the Eurobarometer:
- Support for EU membership went down dramatically in the UK (-8%) and in Hungary (-10%);
- Lithuania, Slovenia and Poland are the three countries in which most citizens think the EU is going in the right direction; in France, UK and Germany only 22%, 24% and 28% respectively beleive that 'all is well' with the EU, and;
- enlargement support dropped considerably in the UK (-8%) and Spain (-4%).
The Eurobarometer also sought citizens' opinions on societal issues, which produced some surprising results:
- 85% of citizens believe that there is too much tolerance for criminals;
- a majority of EU citizens reject homosexual marriages and child adoption by homosexual couples;
- only four in ten EU citizens feel that migrants contribute significantly to their country;
- citizens in 17 of the 25 member states believe that leisure time is more important than work.
