EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/263

(2004/C 78 E/0263)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3334/03

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(6 November 2003)

Subject: Politically absurd opinion polls

On 3 November the Italian press gave prominence to the results of an opinion poll, requested by the Commission's Directorate-General for Press and Communication, asking which country is the greatest threat to peace.

Irrespective of the objective reliability of the answers (it is a known fact that much depends on how a question is asked), can the Commission say:

1. what prompted it to ask such a question, who devised this part of the poll and on the basis of what criteria;

2. whether it was aware that such a question is provocative;

3. how it can equate democracies such as the United States and Israel with totalitarian regimes which suppress fundamental freedoms and human dignity, such as North Korea;

4. whether it realises that to treat the subject of peace in this way shows a total lack of diplomacy;

5. how much the poll cost, what budget line was used to pay for it and what the point of such expenditure is for the EU?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(19 December 2003)

The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that on 3 November 2003, while in New York, Mr Prodi made a statement concerning the Eurobarometer Flash 151 survey in which he voiced concern at the findings. He took the step of organising for the first half of 2004 a seminar with the organisations representing the Jewish communities in Europe to study the role of Judaism in the construction of Europe and the relations between European public opinion, Judaism, the State of Israel, and the Near and Middle East.

The Commission would stress that the Eurobarometer findings in no way reflect its own positions, that it does not base its action on the findings of surveys and that it condemns outright any form of antisemitism.

1. The purpose of the Eurobarometer Flash 151 survey was to gauge people's attitudes towards the reconstruction process in Iraq, peace in the world and the role of the Union on the international stage, particularly in the Near and Middle East. Among the many questions asked, one concerned the level of threat perceived in the case of certain countries. The list of countries included, in addition to the Union, a number of third countries that had been discussed in the media in previous months and met one or more of the following criteria: — countries that are major actors in areas exposed to regional conflict; — countries that had developed, or had the capacity to develop, nuclear programmes for military purposes; — countries with possible links to international terrorism. The questionnaire was prepared jointly by the Press and Communication Directorate-General and by our contractor, TNS Sofres, whose coordination centre for the Eurobarometre Flash 151 survey is EOS Gallup Europe.

2. The Commission had no intention of conducting a provocative survey. It neither determines nor controls the content of public opinion.

3. This question was concerned not with the level of democracy in the countries tested but solely with how individuals perceived any threat to peace. The criteria for selecting the countries to be included in the list are spelt out above.

4. By virtue of its very nature, an opinion poll is not necessarily ‘diplomatic’ since its purpose is to capture the state of public opinion and by no means to represent the position of a particular institution. In order to be understood by the majority, any question asked in an opinion poll proceeds by simplification. The question on countries that could pose a threat to world peace needs to be seen in the wider context of this study, of which it was only one aspect among many others.