Vienna. Austrians are now distant from the EU! While the majority spoke in favor of joining the EU in the referendum held 30 years ago, today almost half of Austrian voters do not think positively about the EU.
According to the latest data from a recent survey conducted by the Linz Market Institute for STANDARD, only 41 percent of Austrian voters declare that they agree with the argument that „The EU is a successful peace project“. A closer look at the data shows that there are still clear majorities among Greens, Neos and SPÖ voters who agree with the argument in question, but the argument is clearly rejected by the Freedom Party (FPÖ). Market policy researcher David Pfarrhofer „Those who voted for FPÖ are unlikely to have good opinions about the EU. The majority of FPÖ voters do not accept, for example, that the EU’s Erasmus program provides students with a good international education or that open internal borders support economic growth“ says.
The economic aspects of the EU, on the other hand, prove to have stable majority support in the current poll. Even in the current difficult economic situation, 55 percent believe open borders support economic growth. 51 percent said this before the 2014 EU elections (in a similarly difficult economic situation) and up to 66 percent during the boom period before the 2019 EU elections. On the other hand, only 37 percent say that the Austrian economy would be more successful without the EU.
Is the Euro accepted in Austria?
Views on the euro are similarly stable: just 27 percent think the introduction of the euro was a mistake, while the same number say it would be better for Austria to keep the shilling currency. However, 56 percent believe that all European countries should use the euro. But here again, FPÖ supporters overwhelmingly reject the common currency. Additionally, 53 percent of voters disagree with the view that only a common economic policy will create jobs across Europe.
But voters from all parties largely agree on some points: The most frequently mentioned point in the survey is that people know very little about the work of MEPs in Austria. 71 percent of respondents say this, and it doesn’t matter which party they belong to.
FPÖ leads in pre-election polls
Market research investigated which parties and their best candidates were likely to be elected before the election campaign even started. The ÖVP recently achieved a result of 34.6 percent with Othmar Karas and is currently ten points behind that result with Reinhold Lopatka in the projection. That puts them roughly on par with the SPÖ, where Andreas Schieder recently achieved a 23.9 percent vote share and is currently expecting a 23 percent vote share, according to Market Research.
Both are outperformed by the FPÖ in projections: Harald Vilimsky could currently win 27 percent for his party, nearly ten points more than five years ago when he (like Schieder) was already the leading candidate. With the candidacy of Helmut Brandstätter, Neos could rise from 8.44 percent to around 12 percent, while the Greens could fall from 14.1 percent to around 11 percent with Lena Schilling. There may be small gains for the KPÖ with Günther Hopfgartner, whom Pfarrhofer believes will gain two percent.
Pointing out that there is a long list of topics for the election campaign, DER STANDARD asked the participants some questions on European issues and the results are as follows:
- A clear majority believes the EU should be as strong internationally as the US or China – 56 percent of respondents say this, and even among FPÖ voters almost one in two support the EU having a strong external presence.
- At the same time, only 26 percent support the EU becoming a federal state like the United States, while 52 percent are clearly against it.
- However, the current situation does not reflect the desire for a strong international role for the European Union in the eyes of Austrian voters: only 41 percent believe that the current EU is a counterweight to major powers such as the United States or Russia.
- About the same number of respondents (42 percent) believe that the EU is important as a strong voice in the Ukraine war.
- While half of those surveyed oppose a common EU army replacing national armies such as the Austrian Armed Forces, just under a third support it, with the remainder undecided. This also shows that the mood is largely stable, as this point was also shown in 2014 and 2019, when 30 to 32 percent of respondents were in favor of a separate EU army. Such an army finds its supporters mostly among SPÖ and Green voters.
- A strong minority of all respondents (37 percent) and a strong majority of FPÖ supporters (73 percent) believe that „the EU is responsible for more crime in our country“.
- If we look at the social security law, the idea of a more social Europe is generally not well received. Only 31 percent want all citizens in the EU to have the same health insurance, while only 23 percent want uniform pension insurance across Europe.
- There is broad agreement that Austrian politicians talk about leaving the EU too often – seven in ten respondents believe so.
Pfarrhofer also refers to another survey result that reveals dissatisfaction with the EU, but puts it in perspective: „We asked whether things are generally going in the right or wrong direction in the EU. Two-thirds believe things are going in the wrong direction – and that hasn’t changed not just since yesterday, but for a decade. Even in 2014, only one in five people said things were going in the right direction; This is neither more nor less the case today. So is this a reason to leave the EU? Of course no. Only 23 percent want to leave the EU. But even there the FPÖ marks voters differently, because one in every two voters wants to leave the EU.“ ( news)
2024-02-19 14:25:42