According to the European Parliament’s Parlemeter 2023 survey, almost 70% of Romanians believe that our country has benefited from EU membership, and 75% say they would vote in the European Parliament elections if they were held next week.

More than seven out of ten Europeans believe that their country has benefited from EU membership. 69% of Romanian citizens surveyed believe that EU membership benefits Romania. Respondents from Romania named the main reasons for these benefits: new job opportunities provided by the EU (42%), improved living standards (28%), followed by the EU’s contribution to peacekeeping (25%) and cooperation with other European states (25). %).

For the participants of this survey from all over the EU, the main reasons are the EU’s contribution to maintaining peace and strengthening security (34%) and improving cooperation between the countries of the Union (34%).

49% of Romanians have a positive image of the EU, 14% have a negative one.

The image of the EU among European citizens has also remained stable since March 2023: 45% of EU citizens have a positive image of the union, 38% have a neutral image and 16% have a negative image. 49% of Romanians have a positive image of the EU, 35% have a neutral image, and 14% have a negative image.

70% of EU citizens (60% of Romanian citizens) believe that EU actions affect their daily life. More than a third of EU citizens believe that the fight against poverty and social exclusion (36%) and health care (34%) are the main topics to which the European Parliament should give priority.

The next important topics for EU citizens are actions to combat climate change (29%) and supporting the economy and creating new jobs (29%). Migration and asylum (18%), now in ninth place, is a topic that has risen seven percentage points since last autumn. According to Romanian citizens participating in the survey, the European Parliament’s priorities should be to support the economy and create new jobs (42%), health care (35%) and the fight against poverty and social exclusion (34). %).

Socio-economic difficulties still affect many Europeans

President of the European Parliament Roberta Metzola, commenting on the results of the survey, said: “During the last five years, we have listened. And the European Parliament gave results. We are tackling poverty, social exclusion and climate change to create jobs and protect EU values ​​such as democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.”

As reflected in the policy priorities, socio-economic difficulties still affect many Europeans, even if the indicators have improved slightly over the past six months. 73% of respondents (6 percentage points less than in the spring of 2023) believe that their standard of living will decrease next year. More than a third of Europeans (37%) have difficulty paying their bills sometimes or most of the time, while the percentage of Romanian citizens who have difficulty paying their bills sometimes or most of the time is 57%.

As the 2024 European elections approach, a majority of Europeans (53%), including citizens of Romania (59%), want the EP to play a more important role, a majority in the 21 member states. The majority of Europeans (57%) are interested in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament, a stable result compared to spring 2023 (+1 p.p.), but 6 percentage points higher than in autumn 2018 at the same time. before the last European elections. 60% of Romanians said they were interested in the European elections in 2024.

75% of Romanians said they would vote for the European Parliament

68% of Europeans who took part in the survey said that they would vote if the European Parliament elections were held in a week – nine points more than in autumn 2018. Of the Romanian citizens who responded to the survey, 75% said they would go to vote if European Parliament elections were held in a week.

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzola, also stated: “This Eurobarometer shows that Europe matters. In this complex geopolitical and socio-economic context, citizens believe that the European Union will find a solution. The vast majority of Europeans believe that EU actions have had a positive impact on their daily lives. Democracy cannot exist by itself. We must protect it and preserve it with our vote. Every vote in the upcoming European elections matters.”

• The autumn 2023 European Parliament survey was conducted by research agency Verian (formerly Kantar Public) from 25 September to 19 October 2023 across all 27 EU member states. The survey was conducted face-to-face using video interviews (CAVI) in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland and Malta. A total of 26,523 interviews were conducted. The EU results were weighted according to each country’s population. Full results can be found here.