Around 70% of citizens will vote in European elections

“Elections are important. Voting is an opportunity for citizens to speak out on issues that concern them. “I invite everyone, especially young people, to go to the polls and contribute to the design of the EU they want to live in,” said the President of the European Parliament. Roberta MetsolaOn the occasion of the survey conducted at the beginning of March.

The responses confirm that citizens of all Member States still attach more importance to national elections than to European ones. 56% of respondents – same percentage SpainHe claims to be interested in these elections, compared to 43% of those who are not at all – eight points more than in April 2018. Despite this, only 3 out of 10 (28%) predicted that this would happen in May or June. Belgians (47%), Hungarians (44%) and Cypriots (43%) passed the measure. On the opposite side are the French (9%), Spanish (13%) and Irish (16%).

“civic duty”

As for the reasons for leaving; ballot boxmain response of citizens Voting is a “civic duty”tradition of voting in elections, the desire to support a party political partya willingness to change something, support a particular candidate, or express support for the EU. On the contrary, the main answer stated among the reasons for not voting is that voting will not change anything, that there is no interest in voting. policy distrust of the system in general, or a sense of what is going on within the system European Parliament they don’t care. The main reason given in the Spanish example is that voting will not change anything.

The research examines the perspectives of young people between the ages of 15-24, on elections. For example, when asked about the date of the next European elections, only 24% knew how the elections would be held between May and June of next year, and only 15% correctly described 2024 even though they did not know how to determine the month. % gave the wrong answer. “This suggests that young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are slightly less than average likely to know the exact date of the next election,” the authors of the report said. While the actual turnout rate was 50% in the 2019 elections, they voted.

worse situation

Eurobarometer also reports that after a year of war in Ukraine, the perception of citizens, their quality of life deteriorated and economical situation it will get worse. Also, nearly two-thirds are dissatisfied with the measures their countries have taken to confront the crisis. This is the same perception that exists in Spain, where 62% of respondents (12 points more than in the previous survey) believe their standard of living is falling and expect this trend to continue in the coming months. In addition, for 77% of Spaniards, the measures adopted by the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez While dealing with the crisis is not enough, a quarter of the population agree with the measures taken by the EU.

Still, the vast majority of Europeans are optimistic about the future. 76% also approve of the support measures approved for Ukraine (97% in Sweden, 83% in Spain and 51% in Slovakia and Greece), 71% think that EU policy affects their daily life and have not lost their faith. values ​​such as democracy and free and fair elections (70%), freedom of expression (70%) and respect for fundamental rights (66%). In the case of Spain, 50% of respondents are satisfied with the functioning of democracy in the EU: 69% of Spaniards are satisfied with free and fair elections, 68% with the functioning of freedom of expression in the EU, and 64% with fundamental rights. In contrast, only 28% are satisfied with the fight against corruption and 34% are satisfied that political parties consider the interests of the people.