Europeans Expect More Effective, Transparent EU, Survey Shows
- 16 Dec 2021 9:01 AM
- Hungary Matters
Citizens of European countries expect the European Union to be more effective and transparent, according to a survey conducted by the Századvég Foundation in 30 countries earlier this year.
The survey conducted by phone with 30,000 respondents in the EU member states, the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland probed the public’s attitude on national and European identity, member state sovereignty, the responsibility and policy of EU officials and the operation of the EU.
The results published on Wednesday showed that 84% of respondents wanted the EU’s operation to be simpler and more transparent, up 2% from 2020.
The majority of respondents in 29 countries of the 30 surveyed would want the EU leadership to resign if the bloc failed to respond swiftly to crisis situations, Századvég said.
Fully 74% of people expected Brussels leadership to take responsibility in 2021, up from 71% last year.
The highest ratios on this issue were measured in Croatia (90%), followed by Hungary (85%) and Spain (84%).
Regarding national and European identity, Századvég found that three-quarters of respondents identified themselves more as a member of their own nation state rather than European.
Fully 20% of respondents put European identity first, it said.
National identity was most prevalent in Finland, Hungary and Portugal (86% each), and less pronounced in Germany (66%), Poland (63%) and Luxembourg (57%).
Fully 48% of respondents supported member states having more power over the European Union, Századvég said.
That ratio was 54% in the four member states of the Visegrad Group and 52% among members of the former Socialist bloc, the think tank said.
The ratio of those supporting greater concentration of power in Brussels was above 50% only in Slovenia (56%) and Spain (54%), and at 36% on average in the EU and the UK, it said.
The majority of respondents in 22 countries held the opinion that their interests were not represented in Brussels, Századvég said.
Least satisfied in that regard were Czech (63%) and Bulgarian (62%) respondents, the poll showed. In Hungary, their ratio was 52%, Századvég said.
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