Various challenges ahead

Europe is facing various challenges, including the ecological turnaround and the stabilization of its economy and democracy.  The European Forum Alpbach is a space and place for reflection and action. It brings together young people from Europe and from all over the world with the most innovative minds from politics, business, civil society, culture, and science to drive ideas for a strong and democratic Europe. This year’s theme “Bold Europe” calls for Europe to face the challenges of our time with boldness. Debates will focus on four thematic tracks:

•   Rallying for Climate Action

•   Fighting for Europe’s Economic Sovereignty

•   Securing Europe in a Multipolar World

•   Reinforcing Democracy in Europe

eupinions  is a platform for EU-ropean public opinion. We second these thematic tracks with relevant survey data collected in June 2023.

Alpbach track 1: Rallying for Climate Action

• How do we design climate action to bring about a truly sustainable and socially just transformation?
• What are the structures, innovations, incentives, models and mindsets it needs to enable this action?
• What is everyone’s role in climate action?

eupinions questions:

• Imagine you could choose the three tasks the EU should focus on in the coming years. Please select only three tasks (see answer "Stop climate change").
• Do you think the EU is doing enough to combat climate change?

Alpbach track 2: Fighting for Europe’s Economic Sovereignty

• How to secure the financial future of Europe’s young generations?
• How to finance Europe’s bid to win the global race for technology and innovation?
• How to manage future economic and financial relations with Ukraine and with Russia?

eupinions questions:

• Imagine you could choose the three tasks the EU should focus on in the coming years. Please select only three tasks (see above, answers "Create growth" and "Fix Eurozone").
• The last half century, Europe and the United States have always cooperated closely. Do you think that it is time for Europe to go its own way?
• Economic and financial sanctions on Russia are supposed to support Ukraine in its war effort. Do you think these sanctions are: Effective / Ineffective / Don’t know.

Alpbach track 3: Securing Europe in a Multipolar World

• How can the EU better translate its strengths into political clout and contribute to peace?
• What should a future European security architecture look like?
• How is technology used in the global competition and how might it contribute to peace-building?

eupinions questions:

• Imagine you could choose the three tasks the EU should focus on in the coming years. Please select only three tasks (see above, answer "Secure peace").

• A selection of our Ukraine Trends inquiring about weapons delivery, energy independence, EU membership for Ukraine and effectiveness of sanctions

• Do you know what digitalization is?
• Generally speaking: Do you think digitalization is a threat or an opportunity?
• Do you think digitalization is a threat or an opportunity for democracy?

Alpbach track 4: Reinforcing Democracy in Europe

• How can we safeguard and enhance democratic resilience?
• How can we effectively include citizens in democratic processes?
• How can we improve democratic leadership?

eupinions questions:

• Imagine you could choose the three tasks the EU should focus on in the coming years. Please select only three tasks (see above, answers "Protect citizens' rights" and "Fight inequality").
• How satisfied are you with the way democracy works in the European Union?
• Think about the European Union in general. Would you say that things are currently moving in the right direction?
• Imagine there is a referendum and you could decide whether your country stays as a member of the European Union. How would you vote?

About eupinions

eupinions is an independent platform for European public opinion. We collect and analyze data on European public opinion and comment on what Europeans think about current political issues and megatrends.​

Our data is representative with regard to age, gender, education and country/region.​

eupinions is a Bertelsmann Stiftung project. The data is collected by Latana.​

Visit www.eupinions.eu for further information!

eupinions is cooperating with a wide range of Europeans partners. This data has been presented in collaboration with European Forum Alpbach.

Methodology note

Most samples analysed in this report were drawn by Latana in March (with a size of n=13,208), June (n=13,220), September (n=13,204) and December 2022 (n=13,300) as well as in March (n=13,270) and June 2023 (n=13,322) across all 27 EU member states. Our samples take into account current population distributions with regard to age (16-70 years), gender and region/country. In order to obtain census representative results, the data were weighted using the most recent Eurostat statistics.

Any references to differences between countries in the report pertain only to the seven countries with sufficiently large sample sizes: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Calculated for a sample of this size and considering the design-effect, the margin of error would be 1% (March and September 2022, June 2023) and 0,9% (June and December 2022, March 2023) at a confidence level of 95%.