European public opinion had never been so aware of the importance of the decisions taken in the community institutions nor had it had as much interest as now in participating in the next elections to the Eurochamber, scheduled for exactly one year.
These are the main conclusions of the Eurobarometer published yesterday by the European Parliament, which in view of the latest indicators is confident that it will emerge unscathed from the effect of the bribery scandal known as Qatargate (no impact on the institution’s popularity can be seen ) and register in 2024 the highest turnout since the first direct elections of this type were held in 1979. Thus, seven out of ten European citizens (71%) think that the decisions of the European Union (EU) have an impact on their daily life, a higher percentage than five years ago and that in Spain it stands at 64 %.
In addition, although only half of the citizens consulted know when the next parliamentary elections will be (the date has just been set, and will take place between June 6 and 9, 2024), 67% of respondents say that would vote if the elections were held next week (65% in Spain). Although this data is not a guarantee that they will go to the polls, there is a certain correlation, and last year, despite the fact that the level of interest was nine points below the current one, the record figure of 51% average participation. That is why it is expected that a new record will be broken in 2024.
These data are “probably the logical consequence of the increased visibility that the European Union has had during this legislature”, pointed out Jaume Duch, Director General for Communication and spokesperson of the European Parliament, during the presentation of the survey, in allusion to Brexit, the management of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. “If the impact is positive or negative, it is up to the citizen to decide, as in all elections.”
The Eurobarometer does not measure citizens’ voting intention in political terms, but the projections of different media based on national polls point to an increase in the vote for conservative and far-right parties, but it remains to be seen to what extent this rise allows seek a majority in the Eurochamber as an alternative to the historic alliance between the popular and the socialists, to which in recent years, following the strong fragmentation of the European parliamentary arch, the liberals and, occasionally, the greens have been added .
The European survey does give clues about how they see key policies, this time, for example, the EU’s support for Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression. 76% of respondents support this policy (“The word fatigue does not appear in the survey”, highlighted Duch), with percentages well above the European average in the Netherlands (90%), Sweden (87%), Finland (87%) and Ireland (87%) and Spain (83%); the lowest are recorded in Slovakia (45%) and Greece (48%). Europeans also positively value the EU’s actions in defending democratic rights and the rule of law (64%).
The high percentage of support is significant considering that nearly half of Europeans say their standard of living has declined in recent months and an additional 29% believe it will get worse in the coming year. Spain is one of the countries where most citizens have noticed the deterioration of the economic situation in their pockets, 66% say that the situation has gotten worse and 24% think it will get worse next year.
Europeans are generally very critical of the measures taken at both national and European level to respond to rising inflation. Spain has one of the lowest percentages of approval: only 22% of respondents in this survey, which was carried out between March 2 and 26, declared themselves satisfied with the measures taken by the central government, and 25 % with respect to those adopted by the EU. In the same sense, while 47% of Europeans believe that things are not going in the right direction, in the case of Spain the percentage rises to 54%.
All in all, the opinion of Europeans regarding their country’s membership in the EU has improved. 61% think it is positive, 27% think it is neither good nor bad and only 11% think it is negative for their country, significantly better numbers than five years ago, when the UK’s decision to leaving the community club sparked similar debates in other member states.
