The Autumn Eurobarometer shows that general attitudes of citizens towards the EU have, overall, remained stable while their perception of the economic situation and outlook was dramatically affected by the financial crisis.

Respondents in the three Member States with systematically higher expectations in Spring 2008 than in Autumn 2007 – Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Malta – now all record very large drops. Citizens in these countries generally had a far more positive outlook on the economic situation than average but in Autumn 2008 this optimism has vanished.

Significant drops of 6 or more percentage points in support for EU membership are registered in Malta (-14), Cyprus (-12) and Ireland (- 6).

In Lithuania, the most dramatic downward trend is observed for all aspects. Pessimism has also become much more widespread in Ireland and Malta.

Immigration is the top concern in Malta (48%) and is viewed as the third most important issue in the UK (23%).

Finally, concerns about energy-related issues represent the second most mentioned personal concern in Malta (31%).

Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, said about the survey: “The new Eurobarometer reflects the difficult times in which we currently live. Citizens are clearly very concerned by the economic crisis. The challenge for the EU is to follow through on the recovery package adopted recently. I note that the figures for support for EU Membership and the perceived benefits of membership have not declined. This suggests that people see the EU as part of the solution.”

The key feature of the survey is the pessimistic assessment that EU citizens make of the current economic context and its outlook.

More than two-thirds of the EU citizens (69%, +20 percentage points since Autumn 2007) consider that the situation of their national economy is bad, which compares with 58% (+31) who consider the European economy is in a bad situation. The assessment of the current economic situation in the world – a question introduced for the first time in this survey – matches the assessment of the national economy, as 71% consider it as bad.

EU citizens have also very pessimistic short-term expectations. More than half believe that the economic situation in their country will get worse in the next twelve months, while 41% hold this view for the economic situation in the EU and 49% for the economic situation in the world.

37% of EU citizens consider the economic situation (+17) as one of the two most important issue facing their country at the moment, an issue which became the primary national concern at the same level as inflation.

The three main indicators covering the general attitudes towards the EU – the support for EU Membership (53%, +1), the perceived benefits of membership (56%, +2) and the image of EU (45%, -3) – either remain stable or slightly decreased since Spring 2008.Trust in the European institutions remains fairly stable too – European Commission, 47%, European Parliament 51% and the European Central Bank 48% – but the tendency not to trust them slightly increased.

On the Georgia conflict, the European Union is seen by 26% of EU citizens as the actor who played the most important role in bringing to conflict to an end and 60% think this conflict could have an impact on the security of energy supply in the European Union.

Close to half of EU citizens (48%) feel that enlargement has strengthened the EU and around two-thirds (65%) that the fall of the Berlin wall was beneficial for the EU.

Developing the economy and boosting growth in the EU is viewed at the current time as the main objective of building Europe (23%) and 23% feel that improving the standard of living of all EU citizens should be the main objective of building Europe.

This ‘Standard Eurobarometer’ survey was conducted through face to face interviews by TNS Opinion & Social. A total of 30.130 people were interviewed between 6 October and 6 November 2008. Standard Eurobarometer surveys take place twice a year in Spring and in Autumn. The First results are available on the public opinion web page on the Europa web site at http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm.

Permalink: Eurobarometer dramatically affected by financial crisis