More Hungarians favor the European Union

Hungarian citizens have a good perception of the European Union and this view shows a particularly positive trend. This is according to the ‘Parlemeter 2017’ survey, published this October, that takes a close look at citizens’ views on EU membership and its benefits, whether their voice counts in the EU and on their attitudes towards the European Parliament, its priorities, actions and mission.

56% of the Hungarian respondents believe that EU membership is a good thing for Hungary. This is an increase of eight percentage points compared to the March result and the highest rise compared to other member states. 72% say that the country benefits from EU membership, which is 8% higher than the EU average and constitutes a 10 percentage point increase compared to the 2016 results.

The Hungarian respondents attach importance to economic benefits. As to how the respondent country benefits from EU membership, the majority of Hungarians mentioned new job opportunities (51%) and EU contribution to economic growth (45%). These values are much higher than the EU average. However, most Hungarians (57%) do not feel that their word counts, although in comparison with the results of the March survey (66%), there is an improvement in this respect.

Commenting on the results of the opinion poll, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani said the outcome of the survey “is very positive and encouraging. It shows that the confidence in our institutions and our work continues to grow and that we are leaving the crisis of recent years behind. Naturally, in some areas, views vary from member state to member state. This should inspire us to step up our efforts to tackle the concerns expressed. In general, people increasingly see the EU as a key player in tackling the big challenges and protecting them against common threats such as terrorism, unemployment or poverty and exclusion.”