The upcoming European Parliament elections are more important than ever to the EU citizens, the latest Eurobarometer survey shows. The most pressing issues for Europeans are poverty reduction, health, as well as defence and security. The latter is also the most important topic for Lithuanians.
The EP elections will be held across the EU on June 6–9 this year. As many as 8 out of 10 Europeans call the upcoming elections more important than ever, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey.
Matas Baltrukevičius, an analyst at the Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis, notes that the last five years have been full of challenges, including for the EU.
“People have seen the weight of the European Union in health policy, and there has been a lot of control over the supply of vaccines at a common European level,” he stressed.
The geopolitical situation is also impacting the topics that are most relevant to voters. Alongside poverty reduction and health care, Europeans also mention security for the first time.
Eurobarometer data shows that defence and security are the most important issues for Lithuanians, as 60 percent of the population rank them as a priority. Finns were the second most likely to mention this topic, followed by Denmark, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Poland.
Lithuanians prioritise security because of the domestic political circumstances and the radical communication of the government, according to Baltrukevičius.
“We see a situation where the Armed Forces had to deny the information that there may be military action in Lithuania in the near future,” the political analyst pointed out.
Lithuanians would also like the EP to have more influence, probably because they are among those trusting the EU the most.
As many as 91 percent of Lithuanians say that EU membership is good for the country. This is the highest score among all EU members. Italians, Austrians, and Bulgarians see the least benefit from being in the EU.
Ramūnas Vilpišauskas, a professor at the Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, says that Lithuanians have always been pro-European. There could be many reasons for this.
“The possibility to go to work in other EU countries, the possibility to move freely, as well as the economic growth that has taken place since joining the EU,” Vilpišauskas said.
Lithuanians also have a positive view of quality of life. Almost a third of Lithuanians say their standard of living has declined over the last five years, just over 60 percent say nothing has changed, and almost 10 percent say their standard of living has risen.
These figures place Lithuania among the five countries in the EU with the most positive outlook on the quality of life.
“The contrast is perhaps even clearer when we can see countries that are outside the EU very close to the Eastern neighbourhood and what the economic and social situation is like there,” Vilpišauskas said.
However, political analysts doubt that the support for the EU will translate into turnout in elections. The last time the EP elections were held separately from presidential elections in Lithuania was in 2009. Only one-fifth of voters went to the polls then.
The EP elections in Lithuania will take place on June 9.
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