The positive perception of the EU in Slovakia is on the rise again, indicate the results of a Eurobarometer 86 survey announced by the head of the European Commission Representation in Slovakia Dušan Chrenek last week. The research conducted among almost 28,000 respondents in November 2016 indicates that the number of people with a positive perception of the Union has increased from 30 to 34% and the number of those with a negative opinion has dropped from 26 to 20%. Moreover, the negative perception of the topics of migration and terrorism in Slovakia declined throughout last year.
On the other hand, a total of 45% of Slovaks have a neutral view of the European Union. "These people are highly vulnerable in their attitudes towards the EU, and it wouldn't take much work to prompt them to vote for leaving the EU if such a referendum were organised," said political scientist Pavol Baboš cited by TASR on Sunday. Several surveys carried out last year looking into public perceptions of the EU, NATO and foreign policy as such revealed that people who exhibited "lukewarm" support for the EU were easily made uncertain by the arguments of EU detractors, he said.
Baboš was also sceptical about whether Slovak politicians are doing enough work in favour of the EU. "Their statements often involve making Brussels out to be something abstract, distant and negative, while we at home are the good ones," said Baboš. He went on to call such a division "artificial", given that the EU's single most important institution - the EU Council - is made up of representatives of individual states.
