Interest in EU politics rising according to an Eurostat survey

Budapest, March 10 (MTI) – Interest in the politics of the European Union has risen among Hungarians and citizens of member states as well, according to an opinion survey by Eurobarometer published on Wednesday.

Fully 53 percent of Hungarian respondents said they were interested in the EU’s policies, compared to 54 percent in the whole of the bloc, on average. Both figures were up more than 10 points compared to the previous yearly report.

Belonging to the European Union was important for 55 percent of respondents on average, but only for 46 percent in Hungary. Seven out of ten respondents in Europe felt there was more uniting than dividing them.

Fully 80 percent of Europeans felt asylum-seekers should be better distributed among EU member states and three quarters of them thought mandatory quotas should be approved to guide this process. About 51 percent of respondents said their country needed legal immigrants, but in 11 states, among them Hungary, the majority did not share this opinion. While in EU countries on average 56 percent of residents feel it is good that people of other nationalities live in their country, in 11 states, including Hungary this opinion was not supported by the majority either.

The survey was taken in September last year.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters