Spain will assume the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of this year. Even so, almost half of Spaniards are unaware of it, according to a barometer from the Elcano Royal Institute. The report also confirms the lack of knowledge about how the European institutions work, although they are better valued than those obtained by the Spanish ones.
The study is based on 1,000 interviews conducted between February 14 and March 8. One of the main conclusions is that 44% of Spaniards do not know that, as already happened in the first half of 2010, Spain will lead the Council of the EU from next July to December. The data drops even more in the segment of the population under 29 years of age: only 29% were aware of this fact. 76% of those over 65, on the other hand, do know.
Asked about the priorities that Spain should have in the exercise of this responsibility, those surveyed place the fight against inflation and aid to agriculture as the two most urgent objectives to address.
The body that Spain will preside over in the second semester is also little known: less than a third of citizens say they know what this institution consists of. This data is also reflected in the question that the barometer asks about whether Spaniards are aware of the functioning of the European Union in general. 48% assure that they do not understand it or that they half understand it.
However, the European institutions obtain a better assessment than the Spanish ones. The Commission and the European Parliament receive an average of 5.7 and 5.4, respectively, compared to the 4.8 that the Spanish Government receives and the 4.4 of the Congress of Deputies.
On the front of Spain’s foreign policy, the barometer of the Elcano Royal Institute sets energy supply as the priority objective of citizens. The scarcity of fuels and the rise in prices have made it the main concern and has relieved the fight against climate change, which had been leading the ranking for a few years, in first place.
Precisely, energy is also considered one of the most important challenges facing the EU, in the opinion of those surveyed. Thus, 56% believe that Europe should increase its energy autonomy. The main problem of the Union, think the Spaniards, is the war in Ukraine, as well as high prices and social inequality and poverty. Climate change falls to fourth place, when before the war started it was the main concern.
