Opinion poll
Peace and democracy are important to Germans in the European elections
A huge banner advertises the European elections at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. photo
© Jean-Francois Badias/AP/dpa
When asked about the most important values for the European Parliament, there are clear differences between Germany and other EU countries.
At the upcoming one According to Germans, the European elections are primarily about defending peace, democracy and the rule of law. This emerges from a published Eurobarometer survey by Parliament.
When it came to the question of which values the European Parliament should primarily defend in the coming years, there were – sometimes clear – differences between the results in Germany and other EU countries.
In this country, 57 percent of respondents named “peace” as a priority, whereas across Europe it was only around 47 percent. For “democracy” the average in the EU was 33 percent and in Germany it was 48 percent. “The rule of law” is also more important to women and men in Germany (28 percent) than to other EU citizens (20 percent). The same applies to the election campaign topic “Migration and Asylum”: 34 percent of German citizens want to see it discussed as a priority before the European elections, compared to only 24 percent across the EU. Agriculture and climate policy, on the other hand, are less important to Germans.
If there were elections next week, 78 percent of those surveyed in Germany said they would probably cast their vote. The actual voter turnout in Germany in 2019 was 61 percent.
For the survey, the EU Parliament commissioned the research agency Verian to carry out surveys in all 27 EU member states between February 7th and March 3rd. A total of 26,411 people were interviewed personally – and some with digital support – including 1,521 in Germany.