THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION REPORT. Europe in a period of transition

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 44 it to be negative. The Polish and the Spanish are the most enthusiastic, with 73% and 66% respectively. On the other hand, the percentage of citizens with a posi- tive outlook on their country belonging to the EU does not top 50% in France (44%), Italy (47%) or Sweden (48%). Furthermore, the percentage of eurosceptics exce- eds 20% in those three countries: 25% for France, 24% for Italy and 22% for Sweden (22%). 54% of German citizens consider that belonging to the EU is positive, compared to 16% that think the opposite. The study also dedicates a section to measuring trust in several institutions, including the EU. It measures the personal and institutional trust in the 6 Member States being studied. Continuing with the 0 to 10 scoring, it asks about trust in others (“In general terms, would you say that you trust most other people, or that you can’t be too careful with other people?”) and about trust in institutions (police, legal system, health system, national political institutions, local political institutions and the EU).Trust in the EU is 5.2. In fact, there is little variation in how citizens value the EU in the various study countries: the scores fall between 4.9 (France) and 5.6 (Poland). Poland and Spain give the highest percentage of positive marks (between 6 and 10). France, on the other hand, is the country with the highest percentage of negative scores and the lowest for positive scores. Poland is char- acterised by very high levels of both interpersonal and institutional mistrust; the EU is the best rated institution (5.6). Except in France (4.9), scores for the EU exceed 5 in all the study countries. In turn, the EB94 indicates that 49% of European citizens trust the European Union.At the same time, mis- trust in the European Union has dropped (43% “don’t really trust it”, -5 points compared to EB93). This is an increase of 6 points on the EB93 but above all the great- est level of trust recorded since summer 2008. In the Member States, the level of trust is greater than or equal to 50% in 20 countries, with the highest levels recorded in Portugal (78%), Ireland (74%) and Lithuania (70%). In Germany and the Czech Republic, people who say that they trust the EU form a relative ma- jority of 48%. On the other hand, the lowest trust levels are recorded in Austria, Italy, France, Cyprus and Greece. Compared to the EB93, the level of trust in the EU has risen in 23 Member States. The most spectacular rises were in Portugal (78%, +22 points), Malta (64%, +19), Italy (44%, +16), Belgium (56%, +13), Czech Repub- lic (48%, +13), the Netherlands (61%, +12), Lithuania (70%, +11) and Spain (52%, +10). On the other hand, trust fell in three countries: Poland (50%, -6), Austria (41%, -3) and Denmark (62%, -1). As a comparison, European citizens trust the EU more than their national institutions, be they governments or parliaments. Let’s remember that the recorded trust rate is 49% for the EU; the EB94 puts trust in governments at 36% and trust in national parliaments at 35%. Com- paring against the latest measurements, trust in the EU went up 6 points, while trust in the governments lost 4 points (dropping from 40 to 36) and trust in parliaments remained stable (it only drops one point from 36 to 35). The same survey states that 46% of citizens have a positive image of the EU. This rate has gained 6 points since summer 2020 and has reached its highest level since autumn 2009. In turn, the negative opinion (15%, -4) is at its lowest level since October 2009 and neutral opinions remain steady (dropping just 2 points at 38%). In turn, the EBS indicates that scoring for the EU’s image is positive for 48% of the survey respondents, neutral for 35% and negative for 17%. Furthermore, both surveys show that the positive view of the EU is the majority option in almost all Member States. Both highlight Por- tugal and Ireland as the countries with the highest pos- itive opinions; Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia, Luxemburg, Slovenia, Poland and the Netherlands also record high rates in both surveys. In both cases, it appears that the neutral image is dominant in Austria, a country with a high proportion of negative EU image, along with Greece, Belgium, Czech Republic and Finland. According to the EBS, the opinion on the EU has remained the same for most citizens (56%). However, we might note that the proportion of citizens with a down- turn in their opinion towards the EU is on the increase (up