After the 2004 European Union enlargement, relations with neighbouring countries have become the EU’s main external priority. In order to avoid the emergence of new dividing lines between the enlarged EU and its neighbours, a new policy called the European Neighbourhood Policy was developed with the objective of increasing mutual prosperity, stability and security of the EU and its neighbouring countries. The past few years have seen two waves of enlargement of the European Union, in 2004 and in 2007.

This report first examines EU citizens’ awareness of countries neighbouring the EU, then explores their attitudes towards the European Neighbourhood Policy in general.

Almost 27 000 interviews were conducted, face-to-face in people’s homes, in their national language, between May 25 and June 30, 2007, in all 27 member states of the European Union.

The following are some of the main extracts from the report, which is available at www.evropa.bg

Candidates for EU membership
On May 1 2004 eight central-eastern European and two Mediterranean countries joined the EU. Then on January 1 2007 the EU welcomed Bulgaria and Romania among its members.

For the accession of current candidate countries, namely Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia, no date has been set yet as accession negotiations are still under way.

EU citizens indicate first and foremost that Turkey is expected to be next in line to join the European Union (34 per cent). Citizens from the EU15 (the countries that were part of the EU before the enlargement in 2004) are more likely to know about Turkey’s membership bid (36 per cent vs 26 per cent in the new member states). Croatia is cited in second place in this context, at 12 per cent. The candidate status of Macedonia is less well known. The country was named by only five per cent of respondents.

Secondly, Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the EU quite recently, are cited by 11 per cent of Europeans surveyed. This suggests that around one in 10 respondents are not aware of the accession of these countries.

Thirdly, three years after the 2004 enlargement a notable proportion of respondents are still unaware of the fact that 10 countries joined the EU in 2004. For instance, seven per cent cited Poland as a country that is expected to be next in line to join the EU.

The lower level of information being provided in the media is also reflected in the high “don’t know” rate for this question. Almost four out of 10 (37 per cent) of interviewees did not know any countries that are set to join the EU or gave no answer.

Compared with 2006, the overall awareness that new member states joined the EU in 2004 has increased; fewer respondents mentioned new member states as countries that are expected to join the EU in a near future.

On the other hand, EU citizens do not seem to feel well informed about further enlargements compared to 2006; the proportion of “don’t know” responses has risen by 11 points. As mentioned previously, enlargement does not seem to be a prominent topic this year.

At the country level, the accession process of Turkey is the best known in the Netherlands (66 per cent), Sweden (59 per cent) and Denmark (55 per cent). Slovenes are better informed about the candidate country status of Croatia (72 per cent) and of Macedonia (22 per cent). This is not surprising given that Slovenia was once also a member state of the former Yugoslavia. Austria sought to encourage EU accession negotiations with Croatia in 2005. Therefore it is understandable that almost every second Austrian mentions Croatia when speaking about future enlargement of the European Union (48 per cent).

Compared with 2006, percentages for Bulgaria and Romania have dropped in almost every member state, indicating that EU citizens are aware that these two countries joined the EU in the beginning of 2007.

Awareness of member states that joined the EU in 2004 or 2006 is the lowest in the Netherlands and Austria. In Austria about a quarter of respondents are unaware of the accession of Bulgaria (26 per cent) and Romania (27 per cent) and 16 per cent seem not to know that Poland and Hungary joined the EU in 2004.

Beyond EU borders
There are considerable discrepancies between country results. In seven out of the 27 members states, the majority of respondents say they are interested in what happens beyond the EU’s borders. The highest level of interest is noted in Cyprus (66 per cent) and Greece (62 per cent). As we have seen previously, both countries are more aware of their neighbours in the Mediterranean region than other EU member states.

In contrast, the Czech Republic (72 per cent) and Lithuania (71 per cent) have the highest proportions of citizens who have little or no interest in events in the EU neighbourhood.

Two thirds of EU citizens consider the EU’s relations with neighbouring countries to be good (67 per cent), 12 per cent assess these relations negatively and 18 per cent could not form an opinion on this question.

Sweden and Poland show the highest levels of support for this form of co-operation, with 95 per cent considering it relevant to develop specific relations with neighbouring countries of the EU to combat organised crime and terrorism. A striking outcome of the survey is that 81 per cent of Swedish respondents regard these issues to be “very important”.

Environment and energy
It appears that EU citizens are sensitised to these topics since 86 per cent consider that environment and energy issues should play a crucial role in terms of cross-border co-operation between the EU and its neighbours. Forty-eight per cent of respondents characterise environment and energy as “very important” in this respect. Only eight per cent attach little or no importance to these subjects. At the country level Swedish, Hungarian (both 94 per cent) and Danish (93 per cent) respondents regard environment and energy co-operation with neighbouring countries to be the most significant. A substantial share of Swedes (76 per cent), Danes (69 per cent) and Hungarians (67 per cent) surveyed even consider this topic to be “very important”.

Fighting organised crime and terrorism
Co-operation in fighting organised crime and terrorism is the most significant issue for citizens. Almost nine out of 10 respondents think it is “important” (89 per cent) and 61 per cent say it is “very important”. A marginal six per cent believe it has little or no importance.

Education and training
Across the EU, 81 per cent of citizens surveyed attach importance to education and training in developing specific relations with neighbouring countries outside the EU. The share of those who consider these issues to be “very important” (41 per cent) and those who consider them “fairly important” (40 per cent) is practically equal. On the other hand, 13 per cent do not consider co-operation on education and training to be important.

The strongest support for developing specific relations in education and training is expressed in Poland (92 per cent), Cyprus (89 per cent), Malta (88 per cent) and Greece (88 per cent).

In contrast, almost a fifth of German, Dutch and Swedish interviewees (19 per cent for all three) attach little or no importance to this kind of co-operation.

Immigration
EU citizens consider immigration to be the least important issue (from a list of issues in the survey) for future co-operation with surrounding countries.

Nevertheless, a large majority (77 per cent) is convinced about the relevance of developing specific relationships in the area of immigration; 16 per cent hold the opposite opinion.

More Spanish and Maltese (both 88 per cent), compared to the rest of the EU, consider that immigration should play a key role in terms of building specific relations with neighbouring countries. This can be attributed to the fact that both member states have recently faced challenges in this field.

However, a notable proportion of people living in the Benelux states (Luxembourg 30 per cent, the Netherlands 27 per cent, Belgium 25 per cent) and France (24 per cent) believe that immigration is not an essential area for co-operation.

Helping neighbours
Answers to the following question gave interesting results: Some of our neighbours suffer from internal conflicts, which can also cause wider refugee or economic problems. According to you, should the European Union provide financial help to help dealing with the internal conflicts of its neighbours?
The wording of the question suggests some possible negative consequences, eg refugees and economic problems that the EU itself and its member states could encounter in the event of internal conflicts in a neighbouring country.

European public opinion is divided when it comes to providing financial assistance to help neighbouring countries deal with internal conflicts.

Some 38 per cent consider that the EU should not spend money on resolving conflicts in neighbouring countries. Conversely, 33 per cent would encourage the EU to give financial aid in order to deal with such conflicts. Almost a fifth of Europeans surveyed replied spontaneously that “it depends” (19 per cent). Furthermore, 10 per cent have no opinion on this subject.

A comparison of results in the EU15 and the 12 new member states reveals somewhat reverse attitudes in the two country groups. Citizens from the 15 old member states are more likely to object to the idea of financial help aimed at resolving internal conflicts in neighbouring countries (41 per cent vs 31 per cent). On the other hand, people living in the 12 new member states are more inclined to endorse the idea of providing financial assistance for this purpose (27 per cent “no” vs 41 per cent “yes” answers).

Looking at country results in more detail, Cyprus stands out with 71 per cent of respondents saying the EU should create financial means for conflict resolution in neighbouring countries. Cypriots are most probably sensitised to the conflict in their immediate neighbourhood in Lebanon. Higher support for EU action in this area has also been expressed in Malta (60 per cent), Denmark (55 per cent) and Greece (55 per cent).

Quite the contrary view is held in France (56 per cent), Belgium (54 per cent) and the UK (53 per cent), where the majority of the population oppose the use of financial aid for dealing with conflicts in neighbouring countries of the EU.

In the event of a neighbouring country being unwilling to make progress on reforms, a clear majority of respondents consider that the EU should reduce its relations with the country in question (63 per cent). However, one in four Europeans surveyed are of the opposite opinion (25 per cent).

Public opinion in the EU15 also favours a stricter approach to this issue, with 66 per cent suggesting that the EU should reduce its relations with countries unwilling to make progress compared with 55 per cent in the 12 new member states.

In all EU member states, a relative majority of the population agrees with reducing relations with neighbouring countries that show no willingness to progress. The highest figures are measured in Austria (78 per cent), Greece (77 per cent) and Cyprus (76 per cent). It is worth noting that the share of Greeks holding this view has increased by 13 percentage points compared with 2006.

The majority (62 per cent) of EU citizens believe that close co-operation with neighbouring countries will reduce illegal immigration into the EU. Meanwhile, a quarter do not expect such a result (26 per cent). No notable changes can be observed compared to the 2006 study.

Again, people living in the 12 new member states are more optimistic about the potential benefits of co-operation with surrounding countries on reducing illegal immigration (68 per cent vs 61 per cent in the EU15).

The majority of citizens in each member state expect a decrease in illegal immigration into the EU as a result of close co-operation with EU neighbours; figures range from 78 per cent in Finland to 51 per cent in the UK. However, a notable number of Germans (39 per cent) and Austrians (35 per cent) have doubts.

Economic aspects of the EU Neighbouring Policy
The 2007 EU budget foresees an allocation of 1.4 billion euro for fostering development in the countries neighbouring the EU to the east and south. In order to put this amount into context we should note that the total EU budget for 2007 amounts to 126.5 billion euro in commitment appropriations. This corresponds to 1.08 per cent of the EU gross national income (GNI).

Across the EU, a clear majority of respondents believe that the European Neighbourhood Policy can produce mutual benefits for the EU and its neighbours (61 per cent). On the other hand, every fourth interviewee does not see any link between EU prosperity and increasing prosperity in neighbouring countries aided by EU assistance (25 per cent).

Despite the acknowledgement of mutual economic advantages implied in European Neighbourhood Policy co-operation, the vast majority of EU citizens consider the co-operation to be expensive (79 per cent). One in 10 respondents believes the policy is not very expensive (10 per cent).

A country analysis reveals that Germany is the only country where a relative majority (45 per cent vs 43 per cent) doubts that the EU will derive benefits from helping neighbouring countries towards prosperity. On the other hand, almost three in every four Greeks and Romanians (both 74 per cent) as well as Czechs, Danes and Slovaks (73 per cent) expect that specific co-operation between the EU and its neighbours will contribute to mutual prosperity.

Conclusion
In general, EU citizens are moderately aware of the countries which are set to join the EU.

They spontaneously name two formal candidate countries (Turkey and Croatia) in first and second place as countries set to join the EU in a near future. However, the candidate status of Macedonia is less well known. On the other hand, more than a third of respondents were not in a position to name any country that is expected to join the EU (37 per cent). Lower awareness of further enlargement compared with 2006 can be explained by the fact that since Bulgaria and Romania became member states of the EU this year, no concrete date has been set for the accession of remaining candidate countries.

EU citizens’ awareness of neighbouring countries has remained at about the same level as in 2006. Geographical proximity, especially sharing common borders, appears to have the greatest impact on respondents’ perception.

A slight majority of EU citizens seem to have little or no interest in events in countries neighbouring the EU (54 per cent). Yet, a considerable share of respondents say they are interested in what is happening in the EU’s neighbourhood (44 per cent). Despite there being only a moderate level of interest in developments in the neighbouring countries, two thirds of respondents (67 per cent) consider the EU’s relations with neighbouring countries to be good.

The most relevant finding of the study is that EU citizens regard all issues covered by the survey (fighting organised crime and terrorism, environment and energy, economic development, democracy, education and training and immigration) as important areas for specific relations between the EU and its neighbours. Furthermore, the high level of support for each theme, as well as citizens’ ranking of priorities, has remained stable over the past year.

This suggests that European public opinion endorses co-operation with neighbouring countries in these specific areas.

Overall EU citizens continue to favourably assess the potential results of the EU’s co-operation with its neighbours and expect it to bring mutual benefits. However, a clear majority thinks these countries do not share the same values as the EU.

In political terms, most Europeans believe that EU assistance to neighbouring countries can serve to extend peace and democracy beyond the borders of the union. On the other hand, a relative majority also fears for their own security, which they think could be endangered by promoting reforms in neighbouring countries. In addition, European public opinion is quite divided when it comes to financing conflict resolution in neighbouring countries in order to prevent humanitarian disasters as well as refugee and economic problems which could affect the EU itself.

With regard to social aspects, 62 per cent of respondents expect that close co-operation with neighbouring countries will reduce illegal immigration into the EU.

EU citizens also believe that economic co-operation with neighbouring countries will increase mutual prosperity and will open new markets for both parties. On the other hand, yet again, a significant share of respondents consider the policy to be too costly.

Finally, this study confirms the observations made in the 2006 survey, that the EU should reduce its relations with a country if it shows no willingness to make progress with reforms.