BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 25, 2007.
The European Commission has released a report conducted by the Gallup Organisation on attitudes on issues related to EU energy policy.
The fieldwork for the report was conducted in February and topline results were released earlier this year under the framework of the ‘Flash Eurobarometer.’ The survey covered all 27 member states of the EU on a randomly selected sample of 25,800 adults.
The study was designed to understand to what extent citizens link the way energy is produced and used to global climate change, to assess their perceptions regarding various possible actions in saving energy, and to explore the willingness of citizens to involve the EU in resolving these issues.
“Citizens are well aware that the way they consume and produce energy in their country has an effect on the climate,” it notes, with only 13% of Europeans believing that their energy-related activities do not have an impact on the climate. EU citizens are “quite certain” that energy prices will increase significantly over the next decade, and more than seven out of ten feel that they will need to change their energy consumption habits in the next decade.
A significant majority of Europeans prefer that the EU coordinate decision making with regard to energy issues, and 83% agree that in each member state, the EU should set a minimum percentage for energy that must come from renewables. The survey did not suggest any side-effects that might occur, “especially in the form of potentially rising prices,” and an overwhelming majority supports that EU initiative, with only 12% opposed to it.
In eight countries, more than 90% of respondents support EU minimum levels from renewables, with highest levels in Ireland, Luxembourg and Slovenia. “There was not one EU country where the majority would not favour that the EU sets a minimum percentage of the energy used in each member state that should come from renewable sources,” but opposition was highest in Latvia (41%), Bulgaria (36%) and Estonia (32%).
Opposition to renewables was based on the belief that it would raise energy prices or because citizens should be able to decide independently of the EU, with some opposed because this should not be regulated at all.
