Voter turnout is set to increase at next year’s European elections according to a pan-EU poll published on Tuesday (6 June), with 67% saying they would be likely to vote if the elections were held next week, compared to 58% in April 2018.
The poll, published by Eurobarometer, also indicates that 56% are interested in the next European elections, 6 points higher compared with the last such survey in 2018, a year before the last European elections. The elections will be held between 6 and 9 June next year.
The survey, which was conducted by the polling company Kantar in March, was based on over 26,000 face-to-face and video interviews across the EU27.
Turnout hit 50% across the EU in 2019, which also saw MEPs elected for the UK ahead of its exit from the EU in January 2020. That represented a significant increase from 43% in 2009 and 2014.
Voter apathy has long been one of the main concerns of European Parliament officials ahead of the pan-EU polls.
Key issues
The figures suggest that the reputation of the European Parliament has not been as badly damaged by the Qatargate corruption case as initially feared.
A handful of MEPs past and present have been arrested and charged in relation to the scandal which allegedly resulted in lawmakers and officials taking payments from Qatar and Morocco in exchange for political influence. In response, the Parliament’s leadership has promised a series of internal transparency reforms while the European Commission is set to unveil a proposal to establish an independent EU ethics body.
EU Lawmaker: Qatargate damaged European Parliament’s reputation
The Qatargate scandal has damaged the reputation and credibility of Europe’s house of democracy as it is the only EU institution where members are elected by citizens, Swedish Member of European Parliament (MEP) Abir al-Sahlani told EURACTIV in an interview.
However, only 54% said that they were satisfied with the way democracy works in the EU.
Elsewhere, fewer than 50% of respondents gave their support for EU membership in Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Italy, Romania and Slovakia.
The EU’s support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country in February 2022 was cited as the bloc’s main accomplishment over the last mandate, with a 69% approval rating across the bloc.
Support for the EU’s response to the war, which has seen a series of economic and political sanctions regimes imposed on Russia, along with billions of euros in humanitarian aid and military support to Kyiv, was highest in the Netherlands (90%), Sweden (87%), Finland (87%) and Ireland (87%). Respondents in Slovakia (45%) and Greece (48%) had the lowest satisfaction rates.
EU support for Ukraine
In Brussels, expressions of support for Ukraine are a daily occurrence. Euractiv spoke to citizens and MEPs focused on solidarity between people as well as nations.
However, the survey paints a grim picture of the cost of living crisis facing Europeans, with 50% of respondents reporting a decline in their standard of living, while another 29% have not yet experienced such a reduction but expect it to happen over the next year.
That is matched by widespread dissatisfaction with the policy responses to ameliorate the situation, particularly in terms of energy bills and food prices. Of those surveyed, 65% said that they were not satisfied with the measures taken by their own country to tackle the crisis, while 57% were dissatisfied with the EU’s response.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
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Source: euractiv.com
