Authors

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

Keywords

European Union, European integration, Finland, membership

Abstract

The survey charted Finnish expectations of what kind of impact the EU membership would have on Finland. It also contains the citizens' estimates of both the Finnish influence as a member of the Union and issues Finland should be able to influence in the EU.

The respondents were first asked whether Finland should join the EU, how well they were acquainted with the membership negotiation results, and how pleased they were about the results. The respondents were asked to tell how they would feel about the idea that the major principles of the Maastricht Treaty would eventually be carried out in Finland. In addition, the respondents were asked to estimate what kind of an effect the eventual Finnish membership in the EU would have on living conditions, living standard, price and wage level, social security, employment, culture, science, legal protection, equality between men and women, situation of various population groups in Finland, internal and external safety, and the respondents' own lives. In addition, they were asked to take a stand on various propositions that had been expounded in public about the EU. In conclusion, views were probed on the respondents' major sources of information on EU matters, and the reliability of these sources.

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