On a scale of preferences, the population of Catalonia feels, in the first place, Catalanist. Beyond that, they tend to feel a pro-European feeling more than a pro-Spanish one. This is reflected in the survey on the European elections in Catalonia published this Friday by the Office of the European Parliament in Barcelona and the Centre for Opinion Studies (CEO), when there are just 100 days until the celebration of these elections. Specifically, 63% of Catalans feel very or fairly catalanista (using the term of the study document) - 55% feel very or fairly europeista and the support drops to 36% in the espanyolista case - in fact, 62% declare that they have little or no pro-Spain sentiment. A second, related question got similar results: asked to give a score from 0 to 10 on the extent that being European was
an important part of their identity, the average among Catalonia residents was 6.7. Asked about the importance of being Spanish, it fell to 5.8. As for being Catalan, it rose to 7.6.
The study, carried out between January 19th and February 12th on 1,100 people via telephone, also contains one finding that could set off the alarms: 64% of people aged 18 to 24 are Eurosceptic: they feel little or no pro-Europeanism. On the other hand, in the remaining age groups, those with a pro-European sense clearly exceeds 50%. Asked about the 'disenchantment' among the youth, the head of the Office of the European Parliament in Barcelona, Sergi Barrera, noted that this percentage usually coincides with the group's level of disinterest in politics and he wanted to highlight the fact that, in the last elections to the European Parliament, the percentage of votes that rose the most was among the 16 to 24-year-old group: from participation of 28% in 2014 to 42% in 2019. For his part, Jordi Muñoz, director of the CEO, agreed with the diagnosis and emphasized that the scepticism goes in parallel with the "political distancing or the distance from institutional politics" that can be seen in this population group.
Six out of ten Catalans do not know the date of the next elections and do not know any European institutions
Given a tendency of respondents to "over-represent" their participation or confirm that they know something that they don't, the survey also asked has several questions asking respondents to specify this knowledge. In the case of the European elections, they were asked to give the date on which they are to be held take place (June 9th). The conclusion is that 59% don't know and only 17% say the month and year correctly. With regard to voting on that day, on a scale from 0 to 10 - where 0 represents zero probability of going to vote and 10, certainty that they will, 50% answer that they will certainly exercise their right to vote on June 9th.
From the perspective of the European institutions, 57% of respondents do not know the name of any of them, while the most well-known is the European Parliament, which is mentioned by 29% of participants in the study. The second and third most mentioned are the Court of Justice of the European Union (11%) and the European Central Bank (8%). At the same time, two out of three Catalonia residents assert out that the European Parliament plays a very or quite important role and up to 59% believe that it will be even more significant over the coming years.
84% believe that their voice does not count in Europe
The 67-page survey results also examine the assessment that Catalans make of the functioning of the European Union. Although 44% read it as very or quite positive (as against 31% who see as very or quite negative) and seven out of 10 believe that it is positive to be part of the EU, this is somewhat undermined by the conclusion that 84% of respondents assert that their voice does not count in the union. At the same time, eight out of 10 say that the voice of Catalonia does not count either, a percentage that drops to 52% in the case of Spain. However, these figures are not far from the perception that citizens have about whether their voice is heard a lot or little at other levels: 68% believe that their voice is not heard much in Catalonia and the percentage saying no expands to 77% if asked whether Spain listens to them.
Climate change and immigration, the priorities the EU should have
On the other hand, from the perspective of Catalans, the issues that should be a priority for the European Union are climate change, ecology and renewable energies (36%), followed by immigration (31%). In this regard, six out of ten say that the community policy against the climate crisis should be more ambitious and 83% are in favour of the EU being able to establish a distribution of migrated people among all the member states.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, there is a strong consensus that humanitarian support should be given to the country (92%) and refugees from this war should be taken in (90%). However, this percentage drops when it comes to military support for Ukraine, but still exceeds half of the population (57%). And, finally, with the debate on the expansion of the EU, the Catalans are very clear: two out of three are happy to go from the current 27 members to 36, even if this means receiving less funds from the EU (61 % favour this). Asked about the preference of countries that might enter the European institutions, Ukraine starts with an advantage (6.7). The list is completed by Bosnia and Herzegovina (6.3), Albania (6), Serbia (5.9) and Turkey (5.1).