2011 - Eurobarometer Survey - Europeans and the crisis IV

This EB/PE survey "Europeans and the crisis" was conducted by TNS Opinion between 3rd and 18th September 2011 on the basis of face to face interviews with 26.856 citizens aged over 15. The previous one was carried out in April-May 2011.

On the question of financial solidarity between Member States, there is a trend to a kind of polarization of the public opinion: the number of respondents who "do not know" decreased between the two surveys, in favour of negative answers.

Credit rating agencies (CRA):

The media coverage of the debates on the credit rating agencies (CRA) in the political, economic and financial world can explain that one European out of two (50%) has already heard about the CRA. Amongst those, a majority (65%) are in favour of the creation of a European credit rating agency.

Euro:

6 months ago, 57% of the Europeans found that "euro has mitigated the negative effects of the current crisis", they are now 54% (-3). The percentage of those who think that "the euro has mitigated the negative effects of the current crisis" has not changed: 34%.

Share a part of the Public debt:

When asked about the idea to share a part of the sovereign debt, most of the Europeans are in favour of this option although the differences between Member States can reach 39 percentage points on some items.

Eurobonds:

The last months were marked by an emerging debate on Eurobonds within the Euro zone.

A first question "Have you ever heard of Eurobonds?" has been asked in all the Member States: 57% of Europeans answered no whereas 42% answered that they already have heard of Eurobonds (46% for the Euro zone; 35% for the non-Euro zone).

A second question has been raised to the 46% of the respondents of the Euro zone who said that they have already heard of Eurobonds, to know if they "are in favour or opposed to the creation of Eurobonds": 38%are in favour, 33% are against.