Support for EU membership in Turkey at over 50%

The results of the 6th Eurobarometer National Report for Turkey / Spring 2007 public opinion survey have been published. The main finding of the new Report is that support for EU membership is stable at over 50%. In Spring 2007 52% of respondents replied that EU membership would be a “good thing”. This result is similar to the 54% recorded in autumn 2006. Furthermore, 62% consider EU membership to be an “advantage”.

Therefore, these results do not justify undue pessimism about the support of the Turkish public for the EU accession process. In fact, they confirm a modest recovery in public opinion that began in mid-2006 showing a certain robustness in the face of difficulties.

The survey also shows that the overall “image of the EU” is positive for 53% of the Turkish public. Trust in the EU, however, remains lower in Turkey (38%) than in EU Member States (57%). While trust in the EU is increasing in the EU, it is falling in Turkey.

In the EU, overall support for enlargement is also increasing, up by 3 percentage points to 49%.

The Eurobarometer National Report for Turkey - Spring 2007 was carried out between April 10th and May 15th 2007, polling 1,005 Turkish citizens. The National Report focuses mainly on the comparison between national results and the EU average within the Standard Eurobarometer 67 Spring 2007*.

The results of the Turkish National Report  and an Executive Summary are available.

The first results of the Standard Eurobarometer Spring 2007, are available on the European Commission’s website: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb67/eb_67_first_en.pdf

Note* : The survey covers 30 countries or territories: The 27 EU Member States, two candidate countries (Croatia and Turkey) and the Turkish Cypriot Community in the area not controlled by the government of the Republic of Cyprus. It was commissioned by the Directorate-General Communication of the European Commission and was carried out by TNS Opinion & Social, a consortium formed by TNS and EOS Gallup Europe.