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Austrians convinced Europeans now as before! Even though the 14 other EU nations have introduced bilateral sanctions against Austria in the past weeks, Austrians are remaining convinced Europeans—whatever their political preferences may be. This is the result of an opinion poll presented by Dr. Gerhard Bauer, General Secretary of the Austrian Society for European Politics, on March 1, 2000, in Vienna. According to Dr. Bauer, the conflict between the EU and Austria is held on a European rehearsal stage, interestedly observed predominantly by smaller member nations and nations with elections in store. 970 persons over 18 years had been questioned all over the country between Jan. 31 and Feb. 9 in cooperation with the SWS, the Society of Sociological Studies. Content of the poll were not only the causes and consequences of the devaluation of the Euro and the low inflation rate, but the state of information about the EU, the loss of the anonymous savings bank book and an evaluation of the Austrian EU membership as well. In the poll the Austrians displayed that they are excellently informed about the devaluation of the Euro (87 % knew about the devaluation of 17 cents compared to the US Dollar). The majority also relates the advantages of a low exchange rate to exporters and the tourist trade. Confronted with multiple choice answers, 50 % chose "the EU membership“ and 55 % "the stiff international competition“ as cause for the current low inflation rate. Concerning the European Union, its politics and institutions, 25 % of the questioned persons felt "well informed“ and 47 % "passably informed“. In comparison to an opinion poll from February 1997, where the same question had been put, the trend to a better flow of information is now showing. Then only 13 % felt "well informed“ and 56 % "passably informed“. The Austrians' information about the European Union has therefore qualitatively increased over the last three years. At the question of the abolition of anonymous savings bank books Dr. Bauer experienced a surprise. 62 % of the questioned persons did not find a disadvantage in and 11 % were indifferent about the dismissal of the anonymous savings bank book. "Apparently the Austrians have already said farewell to the anonymous savings bank book emotionally“, the General Secretary explains. He points out that the Austrians had been saved in 25 million anonymous savings bank books during the year 1998, and that 84 % of the savings bank books possessed savings under 100.000 ATS, while only 3 % had standing balances over 500.000 ATS. The question whether Austria should remain part of the EU or leave it again was answered with "remain“ by 76 % and "leave“ by 17 %—the other 7 % did not know or want to give an answer. "That should be surprising for the majority of our politicians", said Dr. Bauer and added that he could not duplicate the thoughtless way in which some politicians are talking about the leaving of the EU and the Euro. In his opinion Austria is lucky to be part of the Euro zone, because otherwise the Austrian Schilling would be defencelessly at the mercy of attacks of currency speculators. The question of the extent of the Austrian representatives' influence on EU decisions was answered by 6 % with "relatively strong influence“, by 38 % with "some influence“, by 43 % with "rather weak influence“, by 12 % with "no influence at all“; only 1 % did not know or want to give an answer. On the account of the current political situation another opinion poll was held between Feb. 9 and Feb. 16—it showed that the public opinion has not changed significantly, and that the approval of the European Union has remained high. Only concerning the last question about the Austrian influence on EU decisions interesting shifts of opinion could be detected: Instead of the former 6 %, now 10 % answered "relatively strong influence“, instead of 38 %, now 45 % "some influence“, instead of 43 %, now 38 % "rather weak influence“, instead of 12 %, now only 11 % said "no influence at all“, and now even 6 %, rather than 1 % in the first poll, did not know or want to give an answer. Dr. Gerhard Bauer regards these results as overestimation of the own power and relates them to recent political utterances by Austrian politicians: These referred to the principle of unanimity concerning important EU decisions and furthermore hinted at the possibility of forcing blockades and delays. The General Secretary of the Austrian Society for European Politics, however, can also discover advantages of the current situation: "The intensified coverage has provoked a sensibilisation of the Austrian inhabitants concerning the EU, and our situation has also given rise to an increased discourse, especially in the smaller EU nations, about the EU and the distribution of votes in the European Parliament.“ Mag. Julia Crosina
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