UK – EU – Image © jonybigude – Fotolia
(BRUSSELS) – 55 per cent of British people consider EU membership to have been of benefit to the country, according to a European Parliament survey published Wednesday, with only 26 per cent seeing no benefit.
The 2017 ‘Parlemeter’ survey, which looks at public perceptions of EU membership as well as attitudes towards Parliament, its priorities, actions and mission, finds that the share of all EU citizens who believe that their country has benefited from EU membership is 64%, an increase of four percentage points compared to 2016.
In Britain 55% consider membership to have been of benefit to the country. Conversely the number of Britons who believe the UK has not benefited from EU membership has dropped by 7 percentage points to 27%.
47% of EU citizens and 40% of Brits feel that their voice counts in the EU, the best result since the European elections 2009.
The Parlemeter survey confirms the citizens’ increasingly favourable view of the EU, continuing a trend visible in surveys since 2016.
EP President Antonio Tajani welcomed the results, which showed that, “in general, people increasingly see the EU as a key player in tackling the big challenges and protecting them against common threats such as terrorism, unemployment or poverty and exclusion.”
On Parliament’s image, the share of citizens who have a neutral image of the European Parliament is 42%, while 33% have a positive image, up eight points within one year. In the UK, 27% of respondents have a positive image of the European Parliament – a growth of 4 percentage point in the last 12 months.
European citizens also clearly expect the EU to help protect them against certain threats. When asked which threats EU should focus on, both Britons and EU citizens cited terrorism (65% and 58% respectively) as a top priority. This was followed by poverty and exclusion (34% and 42%) and unemployment (29% and 43%). Interestingly less than a quarter of Britons listed uncontrolled migration as a top threat compared to 35% of all EU citizens.
When it comes to EU’s objectives, Britons feel that the EU should protect the freedom to travel, work and study across the EU as a matter of priority (46%). This was closely followed by fundamental right and freedoms (43%), safety in terms of health standards (31%) and environment (28%). EU citizens expect the Union to safeguard fundamental rights (44%), freedom to travel, work and study across the EU (36%), labour rights (34%), adequate pensions (34%) and economic well-being (33%).
The 2017 Parlemeter survey is based on face-to-face interviews with 27,881 Europeans, aged 15 or more, in all EU 28 member states, between 23 September and 2 October 2017.
