The Eurobarometer survey was created in 1974 by the European Commission and provides a comprehensive understanding of public opinion in Europe. In total, there are 92 waves of suveys, with most waves containing more than one individual survey. In each survey, approximately 1,000 residents of each EU member state are interviewed. In newer waves, the dataset also includes prospective member and candidate states such as Montenegro and Albania. The Eurobarometer surveys provide a rare source of comparative data that allows for a detailed analysis of public opinion in all member states. It is important to note that the questionnaire design of the Eurobarometer is done by the European Commission, not by the scientific community. Thus, the Eurobarometer differs from other survey studies in that it is primarily a barometer of public opinion for European decision-makers.

Besides a host of constant (e.g. demographic) and recurring (e.g. support for EU integration) questions, each Eurobarometer also has a thematic focus. In 2019, waves focused on the European elections, the EU budget and articial intelligence. Additionally, there are “Special Eurobarometers” that focus on specific policy questions. The dataset can be accessed on the Gesis website. We will present the dataset below. While reading, please keep in mind the questions you see below and answer them once you have reached the end. At the end, we will provide a link to a platform with an interactive version of the dataset and additional tasks.

Table 1: General Tasks for the Dataset

Tasks
What are the conceptual differences between the different measures of Euroscepticism?
The populations of which countries are the most critical of EU integration overall?
What kind of European Union do people in different parts of Europe want?

Dataset Description

Overview

Below, we will present results from Eurobarometer 91.5, which was conducted in June-July 2019. Its thematic focus were were the 2019 European elections, the future of Europe, European citizenship, development cooperation, the EU’s response to the financial and economic crisis and the Europe 2020 strategy. Table 2 shows a sample of ten respondents from the dataset and some of their demographic information. The age of respondents is given in years, while the education is asked as the age at which the respondent left the education system. Occupation is coded in 18 categories that also comprise unemployed, students and retired respondents. The left-right position of respondents is provided as a self-assessment with “1” representing the left and “10” the right end of the scale.

Table 2: Example from the Eurobarometer 91.5 dataset

Age	Gender	Education	Occupation	Country	Left_Right
61	Man	17	Unemployed	EE	NA
32	Woman	18	Employed, desk	HR	4
64	Man	19	Employed, desk	NL	7
61	Woman	14	Retired	FR	5
58	Woman	18	Skilled manual worker	HR	3
53	Woman	22	Middle Management	FI	7
80	Woman	10	Retired	CY	3
18	Man	NA	Student	ES	5
71	Man	14	Retired	IE	5
25	Man	19	Skilled manual worker	LT	NA

We can take a closer look at the distribution of the left-right self-assessment across countries. Figure 1 shows that respondents in Poland, Hungary and Latvia put themselves the furthest to the right of the scale, while respondents in Spain, Luxembourg and Germany see themselves the furthest to the left.

Figure 1: Left-Right Self-assessment

Measures of Support for EU integration

We will now present different measures for support for European integration and Euroscepticism. Eurobarometer 91.5 included a host of questions on this topic (normally, Eurobarometer surveys include only some of these). First, a simple way to ask respondents about EU integration is whether they think their country’s membership in the EU is a good, a bad or neither a good nor a bad thing. Figure 2 shows the share of respondents that think the EU is a good thing across all countries in Europe. In Luxembourg and Ireland, more than 80% of respondents think that the EU is a good thing, whereas less than 40% of respondents in Italy and the Czech Republic think so.

Figure 2: Share of Respondents that Think the EU is a good thing

Additionally, the Eurobarometer asks about the perceived and desired speed of European integration. On a scale from 1 (“Standstill”) to 7 (“Runs as fast as possible”), the respondents are asked to indicate how fast Europe is currently built and how fast it should be built. Figure 3 shows the average of the desired speed of European integration. Higher values indicate that on average, citizens desire a faster speed of European integration. Contrary to the question on EU membership before, the countries that show the most pro-EU stance here are southern European countries such as Portugal, Greece, Malta and Spain. On the other hand, the public in Western and Northern Europe does not feel a similar need for faster European integration, with countries such as Austria, Luxembourg and Finland making up the lower end of the scale.

Figure 3: Average of Desireed Speed of Integration

Figure 4 compares the average current and desired speeds of EU integration. The y-axis represents the same information as Figure 3. The x-axis, however, shows considerable variation in how fast integration is perceived by the public in these countries. Citizens of Hungary and Poland, while also supporting EU integration, feel that the EU is going forward at a great speed already. On the other hand Italians and Germans feel that the EU is progressing much slower. Overall, the average desired speed of integration in all countries is greater than the average perceived speed, indicating considerable demand for increased integration throughout Europe.

Figure 4: Perceived and Desired Speed of European integration

As outlined in Box 4.4 in the book, an important aspect of Euroscepticism is benchmarking, in which citizens compare their evaluation of the EU with their evaluation of their nation state. One question that allows for a direct comparison between nation state and EU concerns the way democracy works in both systems. Figure 5 shows the cross table between the two levels for Germany, Poland, Italy and Sweden. In Germany, 40 percent of respondents are fairly satisfied with the democracy in both Germany and the EU. However, there are also many respondents that prefer the state of democracy in Germany to the one in the EU, a situation similar in Sweden. In Italy, there are considerably more respondents that are unhappy with the way democracy works, particularly on the national level. On the other hand, Polish respondents are very positive towards the state of democracy, particularly on the EU level.

Figure 5: Democracy in Nation State and EU (Percent of Cases)

Figure 6 shows the country averages for the way the democracy on the national and EU level is believed to work. Respondents in countries above the diagonal line are on average more satisfied with the way democracy works in the EU than in their home country, while it is the opposite in the countries below the diagonal line. Many Northern and Western European countries have populations that are substantially more satisfied with the way democracy works at home compared to in Brussels, while it tends to be the other way round in Eastern and Southern Europe.

Figure 6: Democracy in Nation State and EU by Country

However, evaluations of democracy are not the only relevant dimension to benchmark attitudes towards the EU. On a policy dimension, the Eurobarometer asks respondents, whether things are generally going in the right or the wrong direction in their country. Figure 7 shows a cross table of the answers in Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden. Polish respondents are considerably more positive towards the way things are going than the others, especially on the EU level. In the other countries, respondents are more pessimistic, especially in Italy where 60% of respondents think things are going in the wrong direction in the EU and 58% do so for Italy.

Figure 7: Policy Evaluations in Country and EU

Similar to the evaluation of democracy, we can plot the share of respondents in each country that believe things are going in the right direction, as shown in Figure 8. Again, respondents in the countries above the diagonal line prefer the way things are going in the EU, while those below favour their home country. The distribution is similar as before with respondents in Northern and Western Europe favouring their nation state and those in Eastern Europe favouring the EU.

Figure 8: Way Things are Going in Nation State and EU by Country

Finally, the Eurobarometer asks respondents whether they have a positive or negative image of the EU. The answers to this question differ from those before, as Figure 9 shows: Respondents in Ireland, Bulgaria and Romania have the most positive image of the EU, while those the Czech Republic, Greece and Slovakia are the most negative.

Figure 9: Image of the EU

The Eurobarometer survey uses different questions about Euroscepticism and support for EU integration in different surveys and many researchers aim to make sure their results hold with these different conceptions of measuring Euroscepticism. Lucklily, most standard questions were asked in survey 91.5, so we can compare their answers.

We will go into greater detail about the Eurobarometer when it comes to voting and the connection between Euroscepticism and voting decisions in the data excercise. Meanwhile, the website of eupinions provides a lot of data on these attitudes towards Europe over time. The team also updates the site continuously, so you can find up-to-date information on how Europeans react to current events.