According to a European Parliament survey, Greeks are skeptical about joining the EU and its benefits, with only 23% believing that the EU is contributing to economic growth. On the contrary, 36% of European citizens feel that the Union is contributing to economic growth.
Equally low (38%) is the percentage of Greeks who have a positive opinion of Greece’s participation in the EU, with this figure being almost 20 points less compared to the corresponding percentage of the European citizens.

At the same time, fewer than half (48%) believe that Greece has benefited overall from its European presence, compared to the 64% of all European citizens. In comparison to last year, the situation is somewhat better, as in 2016 the percentage of Greeks who considered the country’s overall presence in the EU as positive stood at 42%.
On the question of whether the Greeks feels as though their voices were being heard in Europe, 76% say their voice does not count, while a similar percentage (75%) claims that their voice is not heard in Greece.
According to the results of the survey, the Greeks want the EU to protect them:

– from unemployment (83%),
– from poverty
– social exclusion (75%)
– uncontrolled migration (50%)

Their priorities regarding what to protect are:
– labor rights (59%),
– prosperity (54%)
– of pensions (49%)
– Basic rights and freedoms (44%)
The areas where Greeks believe the country has benefited most are peace and security (49%), stronger international presence (42%) and enhanced cooperation with third countries, areas where positive opinions are far ahead of the European average.
On the question about the European Parliament, only 27% of Greeks have a positive opinion on the image of the institution, with a 53% wanting it to play a more important role – the percentage of Greeks who have a positive opinion on the EP has increased by 10% from March 2017.

At the same time, six out of ten Europeans (64%) believe that their country has benefited from EU membership – a 4% increase compared to 2016.

The majority of European citizens (57%) also believe that membership in the EU is positive for their own countries – a rate similar to those before the crisis – and 47% feel that their voice counts in the EU, a figure that is the highest figure recorded in the 2009 European elections.

The Parlemeter survey, involving 27,881 citizens from the 28 Member States, examines the views of citizens on the benefits of a country’s EU membership, the extent to which citizens feel their voice counts in the EU but also how positive the European Parliament, its priorities, its actions, and its missions are.
Read the full report here, and the table of results here.