Authors

• Centre for Finnish Business and Policy Studies (EVA)
• Yhdyskuntatutkimus

Keywords

European Parliament elections, European Union, European integration, European monetary system, voting behaviour

Abstract

The survey was carried out just before the European Parliamentary elections, and focuses on Finnish attitudes towards the European Union, internationalisation, and the European Parliament. In addition, the dataset also carried various themes connected with the European Parliamentary elections. The respondents were first asked how interested they were in matters related to the Finnish EU membership, how well they thought they were informed about these matters, and what consequences the Finnish EU membership had had in Finland. In addition, the respondents were asked what kind of goals Finland should pursue as a EU member country, what kind of consequences the eventual EU enlargement to the Eastern Europe would have, and should the EU expand or get closer together in the coming years. Furthermore, the respondents were asked to assess various propositions concerning Finland's membership in the EU, the EMU, and economic subsidies provided by the Union. In relation to the elections, the respondents were asked how sure they were about going to vote in the municipal elections and in the European Parliamentary elections, and which factor was more important as regards the voting decision, the candidate's party or sex.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age group, size of municipality of residence, province of residence, education, professional group, field of enterprise, membership in trade union organisations, and which party R would vote for if the parliamentary elections were held at that time.