The European Parliament Office in Slovakia director Robert Hajsel held a press conference on Thursday where he presented the Eurobarometer survey. As he informed, some 30 percent of Slovak respondents declared their interest in the upcoming European Parliament elections, slated for May 2019, whereas up to 68 percent stated that they were not interested at all.
The reasons behind low voter turnouts in EP elections in Slovakia are varied. Most respondents (54 percent) are convinced that their vote does not matter in the grand scheme of things, 48 percent are not interested in politics in general and almost one half (47 percent) stated that they did not trust the political system.
Europeans in general would welcome it if key election issues were the fight against terrorism (49 percent), youth unemployment (48 percent), migration (45 percent) and economic growth (42 percent). On the other hand, Slovaks consider most relevant to them the fight against youth unemployment (40 percent), migration (39 percent) and social protection for people (37 percent).
One year away from the European Parliament elections, the results suggest growing public support for the common European project. "Three quarters of Slovaks think that their country benefits from its EU membership despite all the possible scandals and suspicions," informed Robert Hajšel, the director of the European Parliamentary Office in Slovakia. As he added, a total of 60 percent of Europeans consider Slovakia's EU membership in general to be a good thing and, conversely, 12 percent perceive it in a negative light.
