| The Conclusions of the Most Recent Eurobarometer |
| (2012-04-04) |
| Last updated: 2012-04-05 13:42 EET |
Within one year, Romanians have grown more skeptical of the path that the European Union walks right now. This is indicated by the conclusions of a Eurobarometer survey made public on Tuesday by the European Commission representative office in Bucharest. It shows that in 2011 only 46% of Romanians believed that the EU was on the right path, compared to 60% in 2010.
However, Romania is now in the 12th place in this respect, above the European average, which is 38%. At the same time, 46% is the lowest level of confidence that Romania has had since it joined the EU in 2007, and much lower that in the period preceding accession, when around 85% of Romanians trusted the European Union. Why have Romanians started distrusting the Union? According to the head of the European Union Representation in Bucharest, Nicolae Idu, one explanation of this collapse is that in Romania the effects of the crisis were felt out of step with the rest of Europe, and only hit hard in 2011. Another explanation, he said, may be disappointment with the level of absorption of European funds.
In 2011, this rate was only 3%, the lowest in the Union. At the same time, the survey indicates that one out of five Romanians believe they are well or very well informed with regard to European topics, while three out of four believe that they are poorly or very poorly informed. Romanians are more optimistic as regards the chances for the 2020 European strategy to reach its aims. They are very interested in the labor market, social insurance, education and the environment. Here is Alexandru Chivu, the editor of the national report:
Alexandru Chivu: “People tend to be very interested in labor market policies, mainly in modernizing the labor market in order to increase employment rates. They are also very interested in social measures, such as helping the poor and the socially excluded, and in having them play a more active role in society. There is also emphasis on an environmentally friendly economy”.
The study also shows that television, radio and the Internet are the main sources of information on the EU for Romanians, but also for other European citizens.
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2025-04-03
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