Hungary: the trust in the political system has grown

n the spring of 2006, when parliamentary elections were held in Hungary, spectacular growth in Hungarians? trust in the national political system was seen. Almost half of those surveyed said they trust in the government and almost the same proportion expressed trust in the parliament. Even trust in political parties, which was very low in previous periods, has doubled and nearly one-third of people taking part in the survey said they trust in political parties. This proportion is extremely high in comparison with other EU member countries (and – we might guess – probably fell back after the elections when reality took the place of political promises.) The trust Hungarians have in institutions in general is significantly higher than the EU25 average. The proportion of Hungarians trusting the EU has now reached 70%, which is also significantly higher than the EU25 average. The result in Hungary about trust in the EU contrasts with the result regarding support for EU membership, which is significantly lower in Hungary (49%) than in most of the member states (55%). Most of the Hungarian respondents mentioned unemployment as the largest problem Hungary is currently facing. This issue was also ranked first in all EU member countries overall but, compared with Hungary, a lower proportion of people mentioned it. However, the average of those citing unemployment is higher in the EU25 than it is in Hungary.  Hungarians are the least satisfied in the European Union with the life. In the EU, 81% of citizens said they are satisfied with their lives but only half (51%) of the people asked in Hungary expressed similar feelings. Hungary is one of the countries where there is highest support (59%) for EU enlargement. Only citizens of Slovenia (73%), Poland (72%) and Lithuania (60%) were more open than Hungarians to enlargement. The results show that when comparing different groups of countries within the EU, it is the ten countries that became members in 2004 that show the highest levels of support. Support for enlargement is about half of that in the founding countries, where only one in three people supports the enlargement and more than half of the respondents said they are against the further expansion of the European Union.   — The standard Eurobarometer survey was conducted between March-May 2006 in the form of face-to-face interviews in the EU25 and the acceding (Bulgaria and Romania) and candidates countries (Croatia and Turkey). www.eu.hu/img/eb65/summary.doc