Europeans mostly optimistic about the future of the EU, except the French

Good news for participation? More than half of those questioned in the member states of the European Union (EU) are optimistic about the future of the EU, according to a Eurobarometer survey published Wednesday December 6, six months before the European elections. All Europeans are mostly optimistic… except the French. The Eurobarometer, published regularly by the European institutions, is based on 26,523 interviews carried out between September 25 and October 19 with a European population aged 15 and over in the 27 Member States.

In detail, the Danes and Irish are the most confident, with 83% “very” or “rather” optimistic. This proportion is 58% for Germans, 55% for Hungarians. It falls below the 50% mark in only one country, France, where only 46% of respondents say they are optimistic, surpassed by the pessimists (49%).

Only 28% of Europeans know the date of the next elections

Across all 27 EU countries, however, 48% of respondents believe that “things are going in the wrong direction” in the EU (compared to 33% the opposite). But 61% of those surveyed consider their country’s membership of the EU to be a good thing – a proportion roughly stable compared to September 2018. And some 70% of Europeans believe that the EU’s actions have “an impact on their daily lives”. Just over half (53%) think that the Russian invasion of Ukraine should be an opportunity to accelerate the enlargement of the EU.

Six months before the European elections on June 6-9, during which citizens of the 27 member states will be called upon to elect 720 MEPs, only 28% of Europeans are aware of the date of this election. A majority (57%) however says they are interested in these elections. And if 64% of Europeans have “recently read, seen or heard something about the European Parliament”they are only 41% in France.