Slovaks trust European institutions more than national ones: survey

Slovaks trust European institutions more than they do national ones, according to a Eurobarometer survey carried out in November 2014, Local news agency TASR reported on Thursday.

According to the survey, 50 percent of Slovaks trust the European Parliament, while its national counterpart is trusted only by 26 percent of the population. The figure is above the European average at 42 percent.

Slovaks trust the European Commission (47 percent) more than the Slovak government (27 percent).

"National bodies decide on matters that are close to the people, so they see more problems. The EU is perceived from a distance, people see more positive things, such as common foreign and security policy," stressed Dusan Chrenek, chair of the representation of the European Commission in Slovakia.

Slovak students are most positive towards the EU (59 percent), followed by managers (56 percent) and the self-employed (50 percent).

According to Chrenek, the survey shows that Slovaks have a positive attitude towards the EU in general, as 73 percent of them view themselves as EU citizens, which is more than the European average (63 percent).

The survey was carried out between November 7-17, 2014 in 28 EU-member states plus six candidate countries and among the Turkish community in Cyprus. In Slovakia, 1,037 people were polled by TNS Slovakia. Enditem