Europeans Are Mostly Concerned About Terrorism And Immigration
A poll conducted by the European Commission showed that Europeans are mostly concerned about issues regarding immigration and terrorism. It also revealed that Europeans continue to trust the EU in handling their future.
The Eurobarometer is a poll that is conducted by the European Commission twice a year. The most recent poll showed that 38% of the E.U’s more than 500 million citizens were most greatly concerned about the rising levels of immigration. Interestingly enough, countries where immigration rates are low such as Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary recorded the highest levels of concern.
29% of Europeans surveyed said that terrorism was a serious concern. Coincidentally, the highest levels of response came from countries where incidents of terrorist attacks were very low. These included countries such as Lithuania, Cyprus, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, and Latvia.
The poll likewise revealed that a high number of Europeans, 42%, remain confident that their leaders at the E.U. are doing a good job managing the group’s future.
However, an alarming 48% of respondents tended not to trust the E.U., while 49% believe their opinions are concerns are not sufficiently addressed.
Despite Brexit, which will take into effect by March 2019, 58% of Europeans feel optimistic about their future under the E.U. This is the third year in a row where Europeans continued to express confidence in the E.U. leadership. The same cannot be said for the United Kingdom and Greece which continued to express pessimism about their future.
Another noteworthy revelation from the Eurobarometer poll is that respondents from the Euro Zone’s biggest economies; Italy, France, and Spain share the opinion that the European economy is in very bad shape.
Europeans continued to support the idea of a single currency which remained unchanged at 74%. Estonia, Ireland, and Slovenia with results measured at 88%, 84% and 84% respectively, had the highest percentage of respondents in favour of a single currency system.
58% of respondents believe the E.U.’s greatest achievement was initiating the free movement of people, goods, and service. 54% pointed to the E.U.’s success in maintaining peace with other countries in the Euro Zone.
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