TURKEY: Public support for the EU has fallen sharply in Turkey since it began accession talks to join. Turkish people also trust the EU less than most other Europeans.
These are two key findings of a Eurobarometer opinion poll, published yesterday, which shows that public support for the EU in Turkey stood at just 43 per cent in May, compared to 60 per cent six months previously.
Just 35 per cent of people in Turkey said they "tended to trust" the EU, the second lowest of all 30 states surveyed.
A spokesman for the European Commission said it was clear that the people of Turkey had been very optimistic about the start of accession talks last October.
However, the perception of people there towards the EU was probably now much more complicated as they realised that the accession talks would take longer than many had expected.
Turkey's accession talks began last October but have encountered serious difficulties over the issue of Ankara opening its ports to Greek Cypriot ships and over internal reforms.
An escalating "war of words" between European politicians and Turkey now threatens to halt the accession talks sometime in the autumn unless a breakthrough is found.
In contrast, the Eurobarometer shows that Irish citizens are the most pro-European, with 77 per cent of people saying that EU membership is a "good thing" and 87 per cent of people saying they had benefited from joining the union.
Both of these results were the highest of all 30 states polled.
The second most pro-European state was the Netherlands, where 74 per cent of people say that EU membership is a "good thing". Spain was ranked third, with 72 per cent of people supporting EU membership.
Austrians remain the most sceptical about EU membership, with just 34 per cent saying it is a "good thing"; however, this marks an increase of two percentage points compared to the last Eurobarometer.
Support for the EU in Britain has jumped considerably in recent years. For example, 42 per cent of British people say EU membership is a "good thing", compared to just 25 per cent in a similar survey conducted six years ago. Overall support for membership in all EU states has increased from 50 per cent in the autumn to 55 per cent in the current survey.
Some 61 per cent of Europeans support the concept of an EU constitution while 22 per cent oppose the idea. Despite the fact that France and the Netherlands voted against the constitution in referendums last year, the public in both states (62 per cent in France and 59 per cent in the Netherlands) say that they favour a constitution for Europe.
The survey shows a slight improvement in European citizens' perception of the economic climate over the past six months.
But just 21 per cent of people said they expected improvements in their national economies in the year ahead while 39 per cent expected the situation to worsen.
Overall, the life satisfaction level among Europeans remains high, with eight out of 10 citizens saying they are satisfied with life.
Research for the Eurobarometer was carried out between March 27th and May 1st this year in 30 countries.
More than 25,000 people were polled on their attitudes in the 25 EU member-states and in Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia and the Turkish-Cypriot community.