Europe

Europe

Poll shows Europeans more optimistic on economy

04 August 2011 22:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A recent poll released Thursday indicated that Europeans are more optimistic about economy than in last year, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
According to Spring 2011 Eurobarometer, a public opinion poll conducted in May and released Thursday by the European Commission, Europeans tend to be more optimistic about economy than autumn 2010.
The poll shows that about 43 percent of Europeans think the crisis’ impact on the job market has already reached its peak, one percentage point more than the previous survey in autumn 2010 and 15 points higher than autumn 2009. 47 percent think the worst is still to come, one percentage lower than previous one.
What’s more, nearly 8 out of 10 Europeans think stronger coordination of economic policy among European Union (EU) member states would be effective in tackling the economic situation, showing growing confidence with EU’s actions in solving financial problems.
"The latest Eurobarometer survey confirms that the European Union is gradually emerging from the crisis. People believe that the EU is taking effective measures against the crisis and we are back on the path of recovery," said Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission.
But conditions vary a lot among EU members, opinions differ towards each nations. Sixty-eight percent in Denamrk believe the impact has reached its peak, the rate is 64 percent for Estonia and 62 percent for Austria. But 80 percent in Portugal and 78 percent in Greece think the worst has yet to come.
Meanwhile, the survey also showed higher support for the Europe 2020 Strategy.
The poll shows that people tended to acknowledge the Europe 2020 Strategy, strategic targets the EU set up for 2020, which include employment rate, R&D investment, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission, education and poverty reduction.
Sixty-four percent think these targets are "about right" and 21 percent think them "too ambitious."
The target of "helping the poor and socially excluded" and "modernising labour markets" win highest rate of support, both at 79 percent. Another target, "supporting an economy that uses less natural resources and emits less greenhouse gas" wins 76 percent support.
The poll shows that 46 percent think the EU is "now going in the right direction. They expect the EU institutions and national governments to continue to confront the common challenge of sustaining growth and creating jobs," said Reding.
"If we all act responsibly, Europe has a good chance of coming out of the crisis stronger than it was before," she said.
The Spring 2011 Eurobarometer was conducted through face-to-face interviews between May 6 and May 26 with a total of 31,769 people across 27 EU members and five candidate countries.