The spring 2019 edition of the Eurobarometer poll, held in June and July, has revealed a global optimism when it comes to the state of the European Union.
The level of faith in the EU has reached its highest level since 2014 and remains higher than the amount of faith Europeans have in their national governments or parliaments. More than half of the respondents in Luxembourg revealed they trusted the EU (59%), with a similar level of trust seen amongst Portuguese respondents (57%).
Most Europeans also seem to be optimistic when it comes to the EU's future (61%). 55% of Europeans also claimed to be satisfied with the democratic functioning of the EU, the highest score since autumn 2004.
European Union support has also sign a new record in terms of economic and monetary support: more than three-quarters of respondents were in favour of the Euro.
Further positive opinions of national economies prevail, with 49% estimating national situations to be good compared to 47% estimating them to be bad. However, Luxembourg found itself at the top of the list as 94% of respondents showed a positive regard of the national economy. The Grand Duchy was then followed by Denmark (91%) and the Netherlands (90%).
Among respondents, the main successes of the EU are perceived to be European Union citizenship and free movement. On a global EU level, 73% of respondents claimed to feel like EU citizens, marking a 2% rise compared to the previous Eurobarometer of autumn 2018.
Again, Luxembourg showed its support of the EU, as the country's respondents were at the top of the list in terms of feeling like EU citizens (93%). Other countries having a high sense of feeling European are Germany (88%), Spain (87%), Greece and Italy(57%), and Bulgaria (52%).
A significant majority (81%) of European citizens support the free movement of people able to live, work, and study throughout the EU.
As for the concerns of European citizens, immigration remains the major concern throughout the union at 34%. Climate change has seen a marked increase as a major concern for European citizens, holding the second spot of concerns. Previously, climate change was ranked the fifth major concern in autumn 2018.
Finally, three concerns had identical results, namely the economic situation (18%), the state of public finances of member states, and terrorism.
