EC’s autumn 2016 Eurobarometer shows higher support for euro as single currency

The European Commission's Eurobarometer for autumn 2016 showed higher support for the euro as a single currency. Support was at 70 percent in the euro area, which equals the record highs reached in autumn 2004, spring 2007 and autumn 2008.

On the other hand, optimism about the future of the EU was unchanged at 50 percent. The figure was at 58 percent in spring 2015 and the 50 percent level is the lowest since the debt crisis in 2011-12. Immigration was still seen as the most important issue facing the EU followed by terrorism, but both were considered slightly less important than in the spring 2016 survey.

Across countries, especially Italy and France remained countries with low optimism about the EU. In Italy, the ratio for the common currency was 53 percent, below the average in both the euro area and the EU and EU optimism weakened to 42 percent, the lowest since the debt crisis.

In France, optimism about the EU also remained low at 41 percent but the ratio for the euro as a common currency was only a little weaker and stayed at 68 percent. In Germany, on the other hand, support for the euro as a common currency jumped by 8pp to 81 percent, while optimism about the future of the EU increased to 50 percent, having declined sharply to below crisis levels in autumn 2015.