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Standard Eurobarometer 77 Spring 2012

THE VALUES OF EUROPEANS

REPORT

Fieldwork: May 2012

This survey has been requested and co-ordinated by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Communication.



This document does not represent the point of view of the European Commission. The interpretations and opinions contained in it are solely those of the authors.

Standard Eurobarometer 77 / Spring 2012 ? TNS Opinion & Social

Standard Eurobarometer 77 Spring 2012

The values of Europeans

Survey conducted by TNS Opinion & Social at the request of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Communication

Survey coordinated by the European Commission,

Directorate-General for Communication "Research and Speechwriting" Unit

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STANDARD EUROBAROMETER 77 VALUES OF EUROPEANS ? SPRING 2012 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 2 I. THE EXISTENCE OF COMMON EUROPEAN VALUES ...................................................................4

1. The closeness of Member States in terms of values..............................................................4 2. The comparison with other continents.................................................................................7 II. THE VALUES SHARED BY EUROPEANS AND THOSE THAT BEST REPRESENT THE EUROPEAN

UNION .....................................................................................................................................9 1. The values shared by Europeans ..........................................................................................9 2. The values that best represent the European Union ........................................................... 12 3. The idea of happiness ........................................................................................................ 15 III. THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL VALUES OF EUROPEANS............................................................18 1. State intervention and free competition ............................................................................ 18 2. Equality or individual freedom? ......................................................................................... 25 3. The severity of the justice system ...................................................................................... 28 4. The contribution of immigrants to society..........................................................................31 5. Economic growth or environmental protection? ................................................................ 34 6. The importance of leisure .................................................................................................. 38 ANNEXES Technical specifications

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STANDARD EUROBAROMETER 77 VALUES OF EUROPEANS ? SPRING 2012

INTRODUCTION

Understanding European public opinion lies partially through an analysis of the values of Europeans. What are they? Are there shared values? What are the values attributed to the European Union? Have they changed during the crisis? Are there divisions between different categories?

These are the questions which we try to answer in this volume of the Eurobarometer 77 survey of spring 2012.

This Standard Eurobarometer was conducted between 12 and 27 May 2012 in 34 countries or territories1: the 27 Member States of the European Union, the six candidate countries (Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Iceland, Montenegro and Serbia), and in the Turkish Cypriot Community in the part of the country that is not controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus.

The analysis of the values of Europeans is conducted from different angles:

- The closeness of Member States in terms of values: Are values shared between the Member States? Are they shared more closely than on other continents?

- The values that count the most and which are best embodied by the European Union: What are the values that matter most to Europeans? Which best represent their idea of happiness? What values do they attribute to the EU? Are these personal and European values consistent?

- The economic and social values of Europeans, and how they are changing: How do they perceive state intervention? How does this relate to free competition? Do they give precedence to equality or to freedom? Is the justice system sufficiently severe? How do the public see the contribution of immigrants to society? Which takes priority, the environment or growth? And lastly, what is the place of leisure as opposed to work?

The full Standard Eurobarometer report comprises several volumes. The first volume analyses the results for the trend indicators of the Standard Eurobarometer. Four other volumes present European public opinion on other topics: the economic and financial crisis; the Europe 2020 strategy; European citizenship; values. The present volume considers the values of Europeans.

The general analysis and the socio-demographic analyses are based on the average results for the 27 Member States. This average has been weighted to reflect the actual population of each Member State. The averages for previous years represent the results obtained in all the Member States of the European Union as it was composed at the time of the survey.

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1Please refer to the technical specifications for the exact dates of the fieldwork carried out in each country

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STANDARD EUROBAROMETER 77 VALUES OF EUROPEANS ? SPRING 2012

32,728 people from different social and demographic backgrounds were interviewed face to face in their homes in their mother tongue at the request of the European Commission. The methodology used is that of the Eurobarometer surveys conducted on behalf of the Directorate-General for Communication ("Research and Speechwriting" Unit)2. A technical note concerning the interviews carried out by the institutes within the TNS Opinion & Social network is annexed to this report. It describes the method used for the interviews and the confidence intervals3.

The abbreviations used in this report correspond to:

BE CZ BG DK DE EE EL ES FR IE IT CY LT

CY (tcc) HR TR MK IS

ME

RS

Belgium Czech Republic

Bulgaria Denmark

Germany Estonia Greece

Spain France

Ireland Italy

Republic of Cyprus*** Lithuania

ABBREVIATIONS LV LU

HU MT

NL AT PL

PT RO

SI SK

FI SE UK

Turkish Cypriot Community

Croatia Turkey Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia**** Iceland

Montenegro

Serbia

EU27

EU15 NMS12 Eurozon e NonEurozon e

Latvia Luxembourg Hungary Malta The Netherlands Austria Poland Portugal Romania Slovenia Slovakia Finland Sweden The United Kingdom

European Union ? 27 Member States

BE, IT, FR, DE, LU, NL, DK, UK, IE, PT, ES, EL, AT, SE, FI* BG, CZ, EE, CY, LT, LV, MT, HU, PL, RO, SL, SK**

BE, FR, IT, LU, DE, AT, ES, PT, IE, NL, FI, EL, EE, SI, CY, MT, SK

BG, CZ, DK, LV, LT, HU, PL, RO, SE, UK

* EU15 refers to the 15 countries that formed the European Union before the 2004 and 2007 enlargements

** The NMS12 are the 12 "new Member States" which joined the European Union during the 2004 and 2007 enlargements

*** Cyprus as a whole is one of the 27 European Union Member States. However, the "acquis communautaire" has been suspended in the part of the country which is not controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus. For practical reasons, only the interviews carried out in the part of the country controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus are included in the "CY" category and in the EU27 average. Interviews carried out in the part of the country that is not controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus are included in the "CY(tcc)" category (tcc: Turkish Cypriot Community).

**** Provisional abbreviation which in no way prejudges the definitive name of this country, which will be agreed once the current negotiations at the United Nations have been completed.

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We wish to thank the people interviewed throughout Europe who took the time to take part in this survey.

Without their active participation, this survey would not have been possible.

2 3 The results tables are annexed. It should be noted that the total of the percentages indicated in the tables in

this report may exceed 100% when the respondent was able to choose several answers to the same question.

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