A total of 69 percent of the Romanians believe that things in the country are going in the wrong direction, while only 28 percent think the same thing about the situation in the European Union, in terms of economic situation, according to the autumn edition of the Eurobarometer.

Over 60 percent of the Romanians say they are optimistic about the future of the EU, while 31 percent are total pessimistic, while 6 percent of them “don’t know”.

Denmark had the highest number of optimistic respondents - 75 percent, followed by Ireland and Malta - 67 percent, and Poland, Estonia and Lithuania - 66 percent.

On the other hand, pessimism is the majority view in eight Member States, namely Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, France, Italy, Hungary, the UK and Czech Republic.

A total of 34 percent of the Romanians believe that the impact of the crisis on jobs have already reached its peak, while 48 percent consider the worst is yet to come.

The feeling that “the worst is yet to come” is the majority view in 16 Member States, down from 19 in the spring edition of the survey.

In Romania, the economic situation is the main concern for 41 percent of the respondents, followed by rising prices/inflation and unemployment.

The economic situation is the main concern in The Netherlands (53 percent), while inflation comes first in Estonia (50 percent), Lithuania (40 percent) and Germany (25 percent).

According to 41 percent of the Romanians, the economic situation is the most important issue facing EU at the moment, followed by unemployment (26 percent) and the state of Member States’ public finances (18 percent).

The report presents the first results of the Standard Eurobarometer 80 survey, which was carried out in November 2013 in 34 countries or territories.

The entire autumn edition of the Eurobarometer can be found here.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com