Half of Romanians believes in European direction to overcome crisis

Almost 50 per cent of surveyed Romanians think that the European Union is moving in the right direction to overcome the crisis and to confront new challenges, the autumn edition of the Eurobarometer survey shows; it was based on interviews conducted in November 2013, and presented by the European Commission Representation in Romania this week.

2014-02-28 14:13:36

According to the report, one quarter of Romanians consider themselves sufficiently informed on European matters, which is 2 percent below the EU28 average.

The document presented by Daniela Ionescu, editor of the Eurobarometer national report, quoted by national newswire Agerpres also shows that 86 percent of Romanians are supporting economic growth, while 27 percent want an economic evolution of the EU through the improvement of the living standard of all EU citizens.

On the other hand, 43 of the respondents voiced a positive view on the EU, which for Romanians stands above all for democracy (37 percent), peace (32 percent), and economic prosperity (25 percent).

The main information source for Romanians is TV; 97 percent of them mentioned watching these media at least weekly. Romanians consider satisfactory the frequency of EU mentions in Romanian media, according to almost half of the answers (48 percent) concerning the content offered by TV stations.

The awareness of European institutions reflects in 94 percent of Romanians having heard about the European Parliament (EP); 86 percent, about the European Commission (EC); and 82 percent, about the European Central Bank (ECB). The level of trust in these institutions follows the same trend, with 49 percent inclined to trust the EP, 47 percent, the EC, and 41 percent, the ECB.
Closely related to the Romanian perception of European economy and culture (support for adopted measures, level of knowledge of European mechanisms), the European identity feelings are shared by 56 percent of Romanians, while 18 percent definitely seeing themselves as EU citizens.