Almost half of Spaniards do not know that Spain will preside over the EU from July

Almost half of Spaniards (44%) do not know that Spain will preside over the Council of the EU in the second half of this year, according to the latest barometer from the Elcano Royal Institute.

Those who most claim to know it are those between 65 and 80 years old (76%), compared to those under 30 (28%) .

Another thing is that they know what the Council of the EU is that Spain is going to preside over —the body that brings together the governments of the member states—: although 65% claim to know it, only 28% give the correct answer.

The study, which is based on 1,000 interviews carried out between February 14 and March 8, confirms that the Spanish continue to be Europeanists, to the point that, immediately after the Army (6.2 points out of 10), two institutions of The EU —Commission (5.7) and European Parliament (5.4)— are the best scored, ahead of their national equivalents —Spanish Government (4.8) and Congress of Deputies (4.4)—, a situation contrary to that of most European countries.

The high assessment of the European institutions contrasts with the lack of knowledge about them: only half of those surveyed (52%) believe they understand how the EU works, less than a third (28%) know the name of the President of the Commission, the German Ursula von der Leyen;

The Europeanist feeling of the Spanish, in contrast to the growing Europhobia of other EU countries, is also evident in the fact that, when asked what they would most ask of the EU, the spontaneous response of the majority is “greater union”. .

Furthermore, 87% believe that the EU will continue to exist in the long term or will be even more influential in its member states in the future, while only 13% think that it will disappear.

Despite the scant knowledge of the next Spanish Presidency of the EU, the Spanish put homework on it.

46% think that improving the European response in the fight against inflation should be among the first two priorities and 44% put the preferential place in obtaining more aid for Spanish agriculture;

which, in the opinion of the authors of the study, reflects the deep concern about the rise in prices and, in particular, food.

Regarding the challenges facing the EU, the main one is the war in Ukraine (57% place it in the top three places), followed by inflation, social inequality and climate change.

Global warming, which in previous barometers appeared as the main concern, has been displaced by the economic consequences of the outbreak of a war on European soil.

If before it was considered the first priority of Spanish foreign policy, now it has been relegated to a second position due to the need to "secure energy supply".

Along the same lines, 56% of those surveyed consider it very important for Europe to gain autonomy in the energy aspect and only 3% in the military.

A separate chapter deserves the relationship of the Spanish with Latin America.

91% of those surveyed believe that their economic situation is bad or very bad and 82% the political one.

69% of Spaniards positively value the historical influence of Spain in the region (they score it 6 or more out of 10, although it falls one point among left-wing voters and rises 0.8 among right-wing voters), but a third of those interviewed assume that Latin Americans negatively value the Spanish heritage.

Asked about the areas to which Spanish foreign policy should pay more attention, 62% cite Morocco and Algeria;

and 59% to Latin America.