Positive Attitude Towards EU Increases

Positive Attitude Towards EU Increases

Within the framework of the EU Neighborhood Policy, a survey of public opinion about EU has been conducted in Georgia.

In 2017, compared to 2016, positive attitude of the population towards EU has increased. This year, 83% of the surveyed respondents assess relations between Georgia and EU as “good”, last year this rate was 75%.

Trust in EU and other international institutions is as follows:

  • European Union – 66%
  • United Nations – 56%
  • NATO – 54%
  • Eurasia Economic Union – 25% 

The level of awareness on EU support is similar with the same indicator in 2016 and makes 85%. Besides, 48% of interviewed respondents is informed about specific EU funded programs. Most familiar programs are in the field of education, health and infrastructure. According to the survey, 74% of the population think that the support of EU for Georgia is effective. For comparison: last year, 59% of the respondents has the same opinion.

86% of the citizens search for news about EU in their native language, 7% – in Russian and 6% – in English languages. 6 of every 10 citizens believe, that the information they find is trustworthy and reliable. 4 people of every 5 think, that information is accessible. Two thirds of the population think that information is user-oriented and quite comprehensive.

Besides, only 1% of the surveyed population think that the financial support of Russian Federation is bigger than of EU; in the opinion of 6%, support from Russia and EU is the same and 47% believe that Russian support is much smaller. 

22% think that United States of America provide more financial support for Georgia than European Union; 27% think that this support is the same and 13% is sure, that USA provides to Georgia less financial support than EU.

The annual survey was conducted in April-June 2017, through 1000 direct interviews. The survey was conducted by ACT LLC and their network partner companies and were funded by European Union.