Big differences in perceptions between northern and southern Europeans

Every three years, a Eurobarometer survey is held specifically to test the perceptions of citizens in the 194 European regions, both on problems concerning their situation in the territory in which they live and with respect to their national government and the European Union itself.  

This year, the consultation took place in January and February, with a sample of 62,091 interviews conducted in all EU regions. They were asked questions such as the economic situation of their region, their quality of life, the most important problems facing the territory in which they live and how much confidence they have in the various institutions that govern them, from the Union itself to the national governments or the respective regional and local administrations.  

Starting with the most positive, there is a fairly general feeling (82%) in which European citizens say that the quality of life they enjoy in the region where they live is satisfactory, although the percentage drops to 65% when asked about the goodness of the current situation of the economy in their region; 10% even consider it to be fairly good.

It is also relevant that confidence in their closest regional and local administrations stands at 58%, a percentage that is repeated for the EU itself. Differences also emerge in this chapter when asked about the future. In this case, 66% of Europeans are confident that their region will develop well, compared with 32% who are pessimistic. But for the EU, those who are confident about the future are down to 55%, while those who are pessimistic are at 42%. This figure is even better, however, than that for the image citizens have of the EU: less than half, 47%, have a positive view of the EU, compared with 21% who consider it negative and 30% neutral.    

At the extremes, the most satisfied in all respects are the inhabitants of the Finnish regions of the Aland archipelago (96%) and Uusimaa (92%). At the other extreme are the French outermost regions of Guadeloupe and Martinique, along with Greece's Kentriki Ellade, whose satisfaction rate does not even reach 25 %.  

With respect to Spain, the difference in satisfaction between some regions should be considered as relevant, with the difference in interregional perception being the greatest in the whole of the EU. To be precise, while 89% of those living in the Basque Country and 84% of those living in Navarre are the most satisfied with both the current and future situation in their respective regions, these percentages are drastically reduced in Extremadura (30%) and the Canary Islands (32%), differences which it does not seem very difficult to attribute to what causes they may be due, even though the survey obviously does not go into such causes in depth.

Unemployment is a fundamental problem of major concern throughout southern Europe. Within Spain it is a priority issue for Extremadura and Asturias (58%), less so in Andalusia (46%) and almost non-existent in the Balearic Islands (10%).  

With just over two months to go before the European Parliament elections, preceded in Spain's case by those in the Basque Country and Catalonia, the statistical conclusions of this triannual Eurobarometer seem to impose some corrections, both at the level of the Union and with respect to interregional inequalities.  

All this, under the common denominator that the EU itself in general, and its 27 member countries in particular, are undoubtedly facing the greatest challenges in their history, all of them derived from the consequences of both the war in Ukraine and the war in Gaza. Both conflicts will impact on all political, economic and social aspects of the lives of European citizens.