Opinion poll
Interest in European elections is increasing – also because of the war in Ukraine
Interest in the European elections is also continuing to increase in Germany. What concerns Germans most?
© Rolf Poss / Imago Images
Climate change down, security up – the European elections will take place on June 9th. The Eurobarometer shows what is important to Europeans.
According to a survey, Europeans’ interest in the upcoming European Parliament elections is significantly greater than before the last election five years ago. The most important issues for citizens are the fight against poverty, job creation, healthcare and defense and security, according to a Eurobarometer survey published on Wednesday European Union.
Across the EU, 60 percent of those surveyed in February and March said they were interested in the European elections in June. That is three percentage points more than in the autumn survey and even eleven percentage points more than in the same period five years ago, when it was only 49 percent. In Germany, interest has even increased by three or 13 percentage points.
Interest in climate change is decreasing before the European elections
According to Eurobarometer, 81 percent of those surveyed said that the geopolitical context – shaped by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East – made the elections even more important. “Europeans are aware that there is a lot at stake at the ballot box and that elections are even more important in the current geopolitical context,” EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola said of the results. The only country where interest has not increased is France. Here only 27 percent said they had a positive image of the European Parliament. This is the lowest national value. According to the survey, 81 percent across the EU have a positive or neutral image of the EU Parliament, and in Germany it is even 82 percent.
33 percent of those surveyed named the fight against poverty as the most important campaign issue, 32 percent named public health. The topics of economy and job creation as well as defense and security follow closely behind with 31 percent each. The fight against climate change fell from third to fifth place and was mentioned by 27 percent of those surveyed.
Right-wing populists on the rise
According to the survey, the importance of EU defense and security has increased for citizens over the course of the legislative period, especially in view of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The issue is now listed as a top election campaign priority in nine countries. The highest values come from Denmark (56 percent), Finland (55 percent) and Lithuania (53 percent).
For those surveyed in Germany, defense and security are also the most important election campaign issue (41 percent), followed by democracy and the rule of law (36 percent), the future of Europe (35 percent) and migration and asylum (34 percent).
The EU’s Eurobarometer surveys do not ask about support for political parties. However, other surveys suggest that Eurosceptic and nationalist parties, especially from the right-wing populist and far-right spectrum, are likely to make gains in the elections. According to forecasts by the Europe Elects platform, which extrapolates opinion polls from the 27 EU countries, the “Identity and Democracy” (ID) group, to which the AfD also belongs, could become the fourth strongest force behind conservatives, social democrats and liberals.
The European elections will take place in Germany on June 9th. For the current, last Eurobarometer survey before the election, a good 26,400 EU citizens were surveyed, around 1,500 of them in Germany.