Many Austrians are dissatisfied with their country’s membership in the European Union

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency quoting The results of a survey by the Austrian newspaper “De Presse” show that Austrians are particularly hostile to the European Union and view their country’s membership in this union with suspicion.

According to a Eurobarometer poll published on Wednesday, only 42 percent view membership in the union as positive, and 22 percent see it as something bad. This is the lowest in the former and the highest in the latter among the 27 member states of the European Union. Of all EU citizens surveyed, 61 percent consider their country’s membership a good thing.

EU ranking in Italy (43 percent) and The Czech Republic (44%) is only slightly better than Austria. The highest approval is in Luxembourg with 86% for the European Union.

This poll, of course, shows that at least 55% of Austrians surveyed believe that membership in the European Union Europe has generally been in favor of their country, which is also the lowest figure in the whole of Europe. It was more than 90% in Lithuania, Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta.

Austrians are still feeling the effects of the decisions made in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. Almost three-quarters of people surveyed in the country said the EU affects their daily lives. Across the EU, 70 percent saw it that way.

The EU Parliament poll was released exactly six months to the day before the European elections. Accordingly, the probability of voting has increased compared to previous elections – both in the European Union and in Austria. The possible participation in Austria is calculated to be 68 or 66%. In the last EU elections in 2019, voter turnout in Austria was almost 60%.

However, higher voter turnout does not mean that voters They want a stronger role for the European Union Parliament. In Austria, only 38% of respondents want this, compared to 39% who would like the European Parliament to play a smaller role (the remaining percentage is divided between the answer options “same role as before” and “don’t know”). Participants in Estonia, Denmark and the Czech Republic had an even more negative opinion about it. But in Cyprus, 86 percent want the European Parliament to have more influence.

This island nation in the Mediterranean Sea also scored the highest (77 percent) in response to the question whether It considers whether the country’s standard of living has worsened with EU membership and whether it is expected to continue to decline. In Austria, 44% of respondents answered this question positively. In total, 26,523 people over the age of 15 were surveyed across the EU for this Eurobarometer survey.

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