Eurobarometer Survey: Stakes Centre On Ukraine, Middle East Conflicts In June European Parliament Election

<h4>Eurobarometer Survey<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that as the June date for the European Parliament Election draws near&comma; stakes are getting higher as outcome will be determined by emerging issues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The European Parliament is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It functions together with the Council of the European Union and adopts European legislation in line with proposal from the European Commission&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to reports&comma; the interest in the upcoming European Parliament election is significantly higher than before the last vote five years ago&comma; according to an EU poll released on Wednesday&comma; with poverty&comma; health&comma; jobs and defence seen as top campaign issues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sixty percent of respondents said they were very or somewhat interested in the vote&comma; which takes place between June 6 and 9&comma; compared to 49&percnt; before the 2019 election&comma; the Eurobarometer survey found&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A majority of citizens from the bloc&&num;8217&semi;s 27 member states&comma; or 81&percnt;&comma; polled in February and March&comma; said the international context &&num;8211&semi; marked by armed conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East &&num;8211&semi; made voting even more important&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Europeans are aware that the stakes are high&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the parliament&&num;8217&semi;s president&comma; Roberta Metsola&comma; said in a video message&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;reuters&period;com&sol;">The only country that did not show a rise in interest was France&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Only 27&percnt; of respondents there said they had a positive image of the European Parliament&comma; the lowest national score&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The EU conducts regular Eurobarometer surveys to track public opinion across the European Union but they do not poll support for political parties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other recent polls suggest EU-sceptic and nationalist parties&comma; mostly from the far right&comma; will make gains in the election of 720 lawmakers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the Eurobarometer survey&comma; 33&percnt; of respondents picked poverty as a top campaign issue while 32&percnt; chose public health&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Next came the economy and job creation&comma; alongside defence and security &&num;8211&semi; both picked by 31&percnt; of respondents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tackling climate change fell from third in the late 2023 survey to fifth place&period; It was selected by 27&percnt; of respondents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some 71&percnt; of Europeans said they were likely to vote&comma; up from 61&percnt; in the spring of 2019&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Previous surveys have shown fewer people vote than say they intend to&period; Turnout&comma; opens new tab in the last European Parliament election was 50&period;66&percnt; &&num;8211&semi; the highest since 1994&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;