The State of the European Union. The European Parliament faces its most important elections yet

A EUROPE THAT PROTECTS SPANIARDS 131 A high 78.7% of survey participants were in favour of the harmonisation of social rights throughout the Union and an even more im- pressive 82.8% supported the establishment of a minimum European pension. Almost three- quarters (72.9%) of the survey population also thought that setting a minimum European in- come adjusted on a case-by-case basis to reflect the cost of living in each Member State was a good idea. When asked about job security, 80.1% of survey respondents thought that the EU should ensure that all European citizens had access to employment and slightly more (81.1%) thought the Union should ensure that all European citizens have access to professional training. It should be noted that support for these proposals varied slightly according to age group. Although young people were strongly in favour of the policies and integration mechanisms cov- ered by the survey, they expressed slightly less enthusiasm for these measures than older re- spondents ( Chart 3 ). In terms of tax policy, 85.1% of survey re- spondents were in favour or highly in favour of establishing a common consolidated corporate tax base to counter tax evasion. The low num- ber of respondents against this proposal (3.9%) indicates that strong support exists in Spain for a greater EU role in the fight against tax evasion. The majority of survey participants believed that the EU and its Member States should share competences related to research, development and innovation: 54.4%were in favour of shared competence and 18.5% were in favour of a complete transfer of competence in this area to the EU level. Immigration Immigration is a topic of great importance that has generated fierce debate and dissension within the Union over the past few years. Member States have taken very different posi- tions on this issue that have ranged from Angela Chart 3. Support for a European Social Investment Fund by age group 5.0 4.4 4.1 4.2 4.6 4.6 4.3 4.4 Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Average opinion on a scale of 1-5 by age group Sample average 18-24 yrs 25-34 yrs 35-44 yrs 45-54 yrs 55-64 yrs 65 yrs + Strongly disagree 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 * On a scale of 1-5: Strongly agree (5), Somewhat agree (4), Nieither agree or disagree (3), Somewhat disagree (2) Strongly disagree (1). Significant deviation from population average.