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POLAND

Date of release: April 29
Released in: www.interia.pl
Link: http://fakty.interia.pl/news?inf=381265
Face to face random survey carried out between February 27 and March 4 by CBOS for ISP
N=1620 (national 18+ population)

ISP: 56% of people polled trust European Union

A survey conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs (ISP) indicates that 56% of respondents declare their trust in EU. The most euro-skeptic population is found among farmers. According to the opinion poll, Poles think that their institutions will improve quality of work after the EU accession.

The final report of this research was presented during the conference "Poles and European Parliament" held in the Polish Parliament.

It results from the survey that EU awakes mistrust among 15% of the polled population. The same number of respondents expresses indifference towards the institution. 1% has admitted to have no knowledge of the EU and 13% of surveyed people haven't defined their attitude towards European Union.

Lena Kolarska-Bobinska - Director of the Institute of Public Affairs (ISP) - believes that Poles have very high trust in international institutions: EU, United Nations, NATO or World Bank. For her, trust in one international institution usually also means trust in other ones.

The level of trust in the EU is only slightly lower than in the other international institutions. United Nations enjoys trust from 63% of surveyed people and NATO 62%.

According to ISP the majority of those who mistrust in EU is found among farmers and rural population in general (24%). This social and occupational group in its emotional attitude towards EU seems to be divided into prejudices (24%), indifference (26%), unawareness (24%) and trust (25%).

Following the ISP research, the typical profile a Pole trusting EU is: "young male, inhabitant of a big city, interested in politics, intending to vote during referendums or Parliamentary elections and rather optimistically looking into the future".

80% of those who have the intention to vote "for" Polish EU accession declare their trust in this institution.

In the eye of 60% of the respondents, Poland will have only have little importance in the European Union, 24% believe in a medium importance and 14% believe Poland will have a great role in the EU. Mrs. Kolarska-Bobinska is amazed how little Poles believe in their own power: only the more optimistic youth - as she said - suggest that Poland will have medium or great importance.

Only 23% of the respondents claim they know much about the European Parliament and they are satisfied with their knowledge. More than a half - 55% - says they have little knowledge about this institution.

The lack of knowledge among the Poles about the European Parliament is confirmed in the answers they give to the question about the way its members are elected.

Only one out of four - 27% - knows that Polish deputies to European Parliament are elected in general elections. 17% think that members of the European Parliament will be nominated by the government, 3% - by President and 21% - that parliamentarians will elect deputies among themselves.

At the same time, 42% of the interviewed people have declared their intention to vote if the election for the European Parliament was held this Sunday.

Mrs. Kolarska-Bobinska pointed out that the research identifies a huge difference in the way international and Polish institutions are perceived. Later ones are regarded as corrupted and mainly busy with their own matters.

The research shows that Poles are very critical about how the way Polish institutions work, both with regard to their efficiency - only 7% of people surveyed think that they work efficiently- and with regard to their ethics - 78% of respondents think that Polish institutions are corrupted and 89% that they care about providing benefits to the governing and officials, but not citizens.

Answering the same questions on the EU institutions, 50% of respondents think they work efficiently, 18% that they are corrupted and for 32%, they care about providing benefits to the governing and officials, but not citizens.

According to Mrs. Kolarska-Bobinska, the opinion poll shows that Poles believe that Poland's accession to EU will improve the way their institutions work.

48% of interviewed people think that Poland's accession to EU will have a positive influence on how the Polish Parliament and local authorities work. 54-55% think it is an opportunity to improve the functioning of the government, administration and courts.

In the opinion of the Director of ISP this is the first survey of this kind carried out in Central and East Europe. ISP conducted the poll from 27th February to 4th March 2003 on a sample of 1620 adults living in Poland. This project was funded by European Parliament and PHARE 2001 "Integration Now" program.