Economic, Political and Social Identity in the European Union Professor John Wilton Lecture 7 European Union identity today Lecture 7 - The web site of the E.U. can be found at: http://europa.eu.int Web sites for information referred to in this lecture are: http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/index_en.htm http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb62/eb62first_en.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb69/eb69_values_en.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb70/eb70_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb72/eb72_first_en.pdf Lecture 7 Eurobarometer 62 from Autumn 2004 (fieldwork carried out in October/November 2004, published December 2004 – first results) Eurobarometer 69 from Autumn 2008 (fieldwork carried out in Mar/May 2008, published November 2008) Eurobarometer 70 (fieldwork Oct/Nov. 2008, published Dec.2008, first results) Eurobarometer 72 (fieldwork Oct/Nov. 2009, published Dec.2009, first results) Lecture 7 Eurobarometer 62 (Autumn 2004) EU membership good thing (56%). Plus 8 percentage points from Eurobarometer 61 (Spring 2004). Highest level of support since 1995. - But, view that EU membership is a good thing for their country mainly found amongst the citizens of old Member States (85% Luxembourg, 77% Ireland, 75% Netherlands, 73% Belguim, 72% Spain) Lecture 7 •Oct/Nov 2004 Eurobarometer poll 53% of EU citizens considered their country had benefited from belonging to the EU •- 34% thought their country hadn’t benefited. •- Positive view Plus 6 percentage points from survey Feb/Mar 2004 - reached a level not seen over previous 10 years • Lecture 7 • IMAGE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION • - 50% had a positive image of the EU in Oct/Nov 2004 survey – an increase of 6 percentage points on Spring 2004 survey • - 33% were neutral about the EU image •- 15% had a negative perception of the image of the EU • • Lecture 7 • From this the Eurobarometer 62 report suggested that: • “This constant trend reflects once again the gap which exists between the wishes of citizens for more Europe and their perception of the current situation.” (p.29) • Lecture 7 •- Eurobarometer 72 (Autumn 2009) • Support for E.U. membership slightly lower than in EB62 (Autumn 2004) •- Autumn 2004 56% •- Autumn 2009 53% -57% thought their country benefited from being member of EU (Autumn 2009) -31% not benefited, 12% Don’t know • Lecture 7 •- 66% of people who studied beyond the age of 20 thought E.U. membership was a good thing (Autumn 2008) •- But, only 39% of those people who left school at earliest possible age thought E.U. membership a good thing. •- 70% of students thought E.U. membership a good thing • • Lecture 7 •Autumn 2008: •- 62% of people age 15 to 24 thought E.U. membership a good thing •- But, only 47% of people aged 55 and over thought E.U. membership a good thing •- 62% of people surveyed considered they know a great deal about the E.U., its policies and institutions • Lecture 7 •Eurobarometer 70 (Autumn 2008): • Higher level of education, the more citizens believe their country has benefited from EU membership •- 70% of students thought their country benefited from membership compared to 39% of those who left school at the earliest possible time • Benefit of membership stronger support among young people •- (62% aged 15 to 24) (47% aged 55+) • • Lecture 7 •On average the percentage of E.U. citizens who viewed the EU positively in Autumn 2008 was less than in Autumn 2004 • Autumn 2008 45% • Autumn 2004 50% •But, in all the EU states in Autumn 2008 citizens who saw the EU image as positive outnumbered those who saw it as negative • Lecture 7 •Most important Personal Values for EU citizens (Eurobarometer 69, Autumn 2008): • - Peace 45% • - Respect for human life 41% • - Human rights 42% •Values that best represented the E.U.: • - Human rights 37% • - Democracy 34% • - Peace 35% Lecture 7 • In Autumn 2008 fewer people than previously felt things “going in the right direction in the EU” •- - 35% in right direction (compared to 39% Autumn 2004) • - 34% in wrong direction • - But, percentage of those citizens who felt EU going in the right direction (35%) was still on average higher than percentage who thought things were going in the right direction in their own country (28%) • Lecture 7 •So, in socio-demographic terms, according to Eurobarometer 70 (Autumn 2008), EU citizen who has most positive image of EU (and will ‘identify with EU more?) is more likely to be: • - male (50% positive) than female (42% positive) • - young (aged 15-24: 54% positive) compared to oldest age group (aged 55+: 42% positive) • - have spent longer time in education (aged 20+ when finished education: 55% positive) compared to left school earlier (aged 15-: 36%) • - have a good knowledge of EU (53% positive) compared to poor knowledge of it (29%) •