Thursday, August 30, 2007

Eurobarometer: The EU's relations with its neighbours

A survey of attitudes in the European Union

Highlights regarding Turkey:

Firstly, two out of the three current candidate countries are at the top of the list of countries that EU citizens mention spontaneously as being set to join the European Union in a near future. Respondents indicate first and foremost that Turkey is expected to be next in line to join the European Union (34%), followed by Croatia (12%). Citizens from the EU15 are more likely to know about Turkey’s membership bid (36% vs. 26% in the new Member States). The candidate status of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is still less well-known (5%).
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At national level, the accession process of Turkey is the best known in the Netherlands (66%), Sweden (59%) and Denmark (55%). Slovenes are better informed about the candidate country status of Croatia (72%) and of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (22%). Almost every second Austrian mentions
Croatia when speaking about future enlargement of the European Union (48%).
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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 European Union in a near future. However, the candidate status of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is less well known.

For the complete report: The EU's relations with its neighbours