Tag: public opinion

The sovereign debt crisis has shattered citizens' faith in the European Union and increased distrust between core nations, according to a widely watched study released on Monday (13 May), one year ahead of the European elections.

The European Commission is looking into mechanisms to boost public acceptance of renewable energy projects to meet its climate goals, but behavioural scientists warn that obvious solutions like individual compensation do not always work.

The European Commission has been "politically weakened" under President José Manuel Barroso's stewardship, suggests a European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN) report compiled by national experts from 25 EU member states.

Despite ongoing tensions with France, the EU has decided to continue accession talks and opened two further negotiation chapters with Turkey on Wednesday (19 December).

Only 25% of Irish citizens would currently vote in favour of the Lisbon Treaty about to be signed by EU leaders on 13 December, according to a recent poll, which also showed many voters still need to make up their minds ahead of a referendum on the new EU treaty.

Turkish public opinion towards the EU is best described as ‘distrustful’ rather than ‘pessimistic’, Mustafa Oguz Demiralp told EurActiv Turkey in an interview. He was speaking ahead of the publication of the Commission’s latest annual progress report on Turkey’s accession process, due on 6 November.

In an interview with EurActiv, Stephen Boucher, from the think tank Notre Europe, argues that it is possible to engage citizens and explains why public opinion matters in EU policy-making.

Some 66% of Europeans - and 69% of Poles - want a Constitution to be adopted, according to a Eurobarometer survey, published hours before a decisive Brussels summit. However, British citizens remain highly critical of the EU.

With both EU governments and citizens deeply divided over the issue of Turkey’s EU accession, this CEPS paper  takes an in-depth look at attitudes towards Turkey, examining the key elements in determining support for and against EU membership.

Academics and parliamentarians discussed the Union’s further enlargement recently, with the panel urging that the public be better informed.

A new survey presented by EurActiv and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) raise a debate on the relationship of EU actors and the media. The poll and subsequent discussions show that there is still room for improvement.

According to a survey, most EU citizens expect an EU Constitution and more than 27 Member States by 2020, but doubt that Ukraine and Turkey will be members by then.

EU citizens got more supportive of the Union in spring 2006, but opposition against further enlargement continues to grow. Finland, the current EU Presidency, remains one of the most sceptical countries.

Over the past 30 years Eurobarometer has become a point of reference on EU-wide public opinion. It was launched in 1974 to make the EU's information and communication strategy more efficient and to serve as a tool to help shape a real 'European' public opinion. The new information and communication strategy, due for adoption in June 2005, will propose an increase in the variety of Eurobarometer surveys.

A new Eurobarometer survey reveals a five per cent drop in EU-15 citizens' support for enlargement. This development is most marked in countries sharing a border with the new Member States.

A comparative study of public opinion in the current and future EU Member States, released by the Commission on 22 July, confirms that Western and Eastern Europe largely differ in their attitudes to the US.

All the potential new members will conduct a referendum on accession. Depending on the country, the referenda are either more or less "public opinion surveys" or binding on parliament. In most cases, the citizens of these countries see EU membership in a positive light.

A recently released Eurobarometer survey confirms a high level of support for EU membership in the candidate countries, trust in the EU, despite low levels of self-perceived knowledge, and strong support for the euro and an EU Constitution.

The Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, who met in Krynica (south Poland) on 5 September, have decided to hold referenda on EU membership between April and June 2003.

The majority of Bulgarians, Poles and Lithuanians consider their country's economy to be in bad shape, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Central European Opinion Research Group (CEORG).

A Eurobarometer opinion poll of young Europeans, released by the Commission on 9 July, shows that only 29 per cent of Europeans aged between 15-24 old support EU enlargement.

The first Eurobarometer survey of public opinion in the 13 candidate countries shows that the majority of candidate countries' citizens consider membership of the EU as natural, and expect it to help their national economy.

The new Eurobarometer opinion poll, published by the Commission on 14 December, shows that support for enlargement has increased in the 15 EU Member States to 51 per cent from 43 per cent in the previous poll.

The European Union's enlargement should go ahead as planned or else the EU risks losing public support in the candidate countries, warned the participants of a conference on enlargement in Brussels on 21 November. "Public opinion will play a determining role in enlargement," the Commission's Chief Adviser on enlargement, Graham Avery, told the conference prepared by the Central European Opinion Research Group (CEORG).