Attitudes toward the European Union 15 Years after Accession:

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland

Iveta Graudina

, Iluta Arbidane

and Agate Viluma

Faculty of Economics and Management, Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Atbrivosanas aleja 115, Rezekne, Latvia

Keywords: European Union, Social Identity, Place Attachment, Place Identity.

Abstract: Within the EU program “Europe for Citizens”, the project "The 15th Anniversary of the EU Enlargement",

implemented by four NGO from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, the research on the attitudes of the

population to the European Union and the issues related to the EU development. Among the concepts used in

the research, the constructs of place attachment and social identity were chosen. Quantitative and qualitative

data was collected, including 88 in-depth interviews and 467 questionnaires. Conclusions were drawn

showing that national and place identity is stronger than construct of “European identity” among the

respondents.

1 INTRODUCTION

Within the EU program “Europe for Citizens”, the

project "The 15th Anniversary of the EU

Enlargement" was created by four civic society

organizations from four European countries - Latvia,

Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland. Year 2019 was a year

of remembrance, marking the 15th Anniversary of the

enlargement of the EU. All participating countries

joined European Union in 2004. What has changed

and what are people's views on 15 years in the

European Union?

The aims of the project included:

1. To raise awareness of the citizens about an

important historical, economic and political event in

2004 - the enlargement of the EU, which was the

largest expansion of the EU in terms of territory,

number of states and population

2. To involve into the project social organizations,

town municipalities, museums, libraries, universities

and schools for cross-sectorial cooperation to achieve

more success in the project.

3. To create the stable network of the Eastern

European countries with the aim to disseminate the

values of the EU among European and neighbouring

countries, to strengthen the EU on its eastern border,

to work together for the benefits of the EU.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9401-4539

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9762-3874

To implement the aims of the project, one of the

tasks was to carry out research on the attitudes of the

population to the European Union and the issues

related to the EU development. It was decided to

divide the research in two parts and to organize both

qualitative and quantitative survey. The qualitative

structured interviews aimed to collect in-depth

insights of the respondents on the topics being

researched. Parallelly, the questionnaire including

mostly the same questions was developed and

allocated in the internet platform visidati.lv aiming to

collect information that could be quantified.

2 METHODOLOGY

The general population were the residents of four

countries involved in the project - Estonia, Latvia,

Lithuania, and Poland, and the sample proposed was

kind of stratified sampling: the respondents were

drawn at random from the following groups: age,

occupation, place of residence (urban and rural areas),

level of incomes, education. Developing the

questions, the methodology of one of the most

popular surveys - EUROBAROMETER - was taken

as the basis. The questions were arranged in several

groups: (1) questions about the identity included self-

Graudina, I., Arbidane, I. and Viluma, A.

Attitudes toward the European Union 15 Years after Accession: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

DOI: 10.5220/0011357200003350

In Proceedings of the 5th International Scientiﬁc Congress Society of Ambient Intelligence (ISC SAI 2022) - Sustainable Development and Global Climate Change, pages 347-354

ISBN: 978-989-758-600-2

347

evaluation of the respondents of their attachment to

the EU in comparison with their country or local

settlement, as well evaluation of the achievements of

the EU; (2) questions on awareness of the EU

citizenship advantages, place of their country in the

EU; (3) questions on the challenges of the EU and

national level and their possible impact on the lives of

the respondents in the future; (4) expectations and

concerns of the respondents of the EU future and

image of the EU; (5) group of questions aimed at

identifying active involvement of the respondents in

the EU projects, participation in the activities of non-

governmental organizations, their motivation to take

an active position in the life as active citizen of

society.

3 BACKGROUND

Among the concepts used in the research, the most

interesting to analyse attitudes were concepts of place

attachment and place identity.

In psychology, it is widely studied concept that

people are strongly motivated to belong to social

groups. Social Identity Theory (SIT) is a social

psychological theory most concerned with how group

membership affects the cognitions of individuals

within group. Maricchiolo, Mosca, Paolini, Fornara

reminds that Tajfel and Turner, developers of SIT,

have postulated that individuals may associate

themselves with others depending on the idea of

belongingness to a certain group or depending on the

idea of their uniqueness comparing to other group

(Maricchiolo et.al., 2021). That makes base of local

social identity.

Curley has tried to build a theory of European

Union (EU) expansion using Social Identity Theory.

He points out that both psychologists and

International Relations (IR) theorists have begun to

discuss the importance of using psychological

research to inform our understanding of international

issues (Curely, 2009).

The concept of identity within EU countries is an

extensively studied. There are three main factors that

contribute to identity formation within countries: (a)

adaptations of the political order must ‘‘resonate’’

with pre-existing identities; (b) decision-makers pick

ideas in an instrumental fashion according to their

interests; and (c) once nation-state identities have

become consensual among the political majority, they

are internalized and institutionalized (Curley, 2009).

Therefore the national identities are stronger than the

construct of “EU identity” or “EU attachment”.

Fenton, Mann show how the boundary concept

has significance for people’s views of English and

British identity and for how they view relations

between England, Britain, Europe, and the European

Union. Identities are connected to historical and

political institutions and the national ideas. The

connections between nations, states, and citizenship

have formal and legal foundations. When people talk

about “their country”, they explicitly or tacitly

recognise that the nation-state is the most important

social container in which they are implicated (Fenton,

Mann, 2019). That is how we wanted to compare

significance of “social containers” of local, national,

and European scale among our respondents, who

relatively recently has joined the EU.

Community attachment is a construct proposed by

Hummon and explains how a person subjectively

interprets or affectively reacts to the place where they

reside (Hummon, 1992). Hummon suggests there are

five ways people can relate to the place they reside.

The terms used by Hummon are rootedness (everyday

and ideological) and sentiments (alienation,

relativity, placelessness). The first can be described in

positive terms, the second – in negative (Maricchiolo

et.al., 2021).

The construct of place attachment has been

developed in the environmental psychology domain.

Three decades ago, Feitelson published an article in

Global Environmental Change proposing the

importance of place attachments, at local and global

scales, for understanding human responses to climate

change. Devine-Wright focuses on interdisciplinary

approach to place attachment and the related concept

of place identity, connecting human geography,

environmental and social psychology (Devine-

Wright, 2013). The conclusions made by Devine-

Wright, particularly, recommendations to capture

place attachments and identities at global as well as

local scales; to integrate qualitative and quantitative

methods that capture constructions of place as well as

intensity of attachments and identifications (Devine-

Wright, 2013) allows to see the possibilities how this

construct could be successfully applied to other areas,

especially regarding active citizenship and citizen

involvement which also were the themes covered by

the project “The 15th Anniversary of the EU

Enlargement” and the current research. Awareness of

people about their identity, which is based on the

place attachment, can define their active citizen

position.

Interesting research has been carried out by

Favell, who interviewed 60 residents of three of the

major hubs of European mobility – Amsterdam,

London and Brussels, who has moved from their

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countries because restrictive circumstances,

analysing the opinions of these individuals about

Europe. Favell observes low consistency of their

attitudes towards the EU, which contrasts with their

intense usage of the new possibilities that the EU

offers its citizens. They actively exercise their EU

citizenship but do not develop actively their so-called

“European identity” (Favell, 2010).

4 RESEARCH FINDINGS

In the result, 88 in-depth interviews (20 in Poland, 22

in Lithuania, 24 in Estonia, and 22 in Latvia) were

carried out, and 467 respondents (115 from Estonia,

137 from Poland, 108 from Latvia, and 107 from

Lithuania) participated in the online survey. The

research took place from the pre-pandemic time

February 2020 till May 2021.

The surveyed sample includes 55% respondents

residing in large cities, 27% in small towns, and 17%

in rural areas. Generations represented: 28% born

after 1995 (so called Gen Z), 33% - born 1981-1994

(Gen Y), 20% - born 1965-1980 (Gen X), 16% - born

1946-1964 (Baby Boom), and 3% of respondents

born before 1946. The education and schooling

criteria included the age the respondent has

completed the formal education (taken from

Eurobarometer methodology): age 15 or earlier (3%),

age 16-19 (19%), age 20+ (48%), and "still studying"

(31%). One more parameter that was used to compare

the respondents answers was level of incomes, which

in the surveyed sample was represented by the

indication by the respondents if they have difficulties

paying bills (Eurobarometer): most of the time (6%),

from time to time (26%), almost never (33%), never

(35%).

4.1 Attachment to the EU

According to Eurobarometer survey close to nine in

ten Europeans (89%, same as in summer 2020) say

they feel attached to their 'city/town/village',

including over half (52%) who are “very attached” to

it. Over nine in ten Europeans (92%) feel attached to

their 'country', with 56% who feel “very attached” to

it. Close to seven in ten Europeans (69%) say they are

attached to 'Europe', with 21% “very attached” to it.

Six in ten respondents (60%) answer they feel

attached to the 'European Union', including 17% who

feel “very attached” to it.

Our survey shows that half of the respondents feel

attached to their city/ town/ village, and one third

(32%) feel very attached to it. Almost 8 in ten

respondents (77%, which is almost 15% less then in

EB survey) feel attached to their country, including

36% very attached to it (56% in EB survey). 72% of

the respondents feel themselves belonging to the

Europe and 65% – as a part of the world.

The respondents name common values, history,

and shared experiences as base for this attachment.

Those expressing negative feelings, indicate

disagreement with the national policy, lack of

satisfaction with external factors impacting their

lives.

“This feeling of belonging to the European Union

is kind of important and some kind of feeling of

safety - I don’t know how much this is real and how

much this is just imagination but there is this feeling

of safety while belonging to a bigger union of

countries that, just in case something is happening,

there will be this union that will help you.” (Ola,

Poland)

Looking at the differences by countries, the data

shows that six to seven in ten respondents feel

attached to the EU. A little higher number shows

Poland (70%), which could be explained by a larger

share of respondents from large cities (76%), and

lesser number by Estonia, where more respondents

come from rural areas (25%). The survey shows

significant correlation between city and countryside

residents and their answers - 56% in this population

feeling not very much or not at all attached to the EU.

(Fig. 1).

Figure 1: How attached do you feel to the EU? (N=467)

Regarding generations, there are almost no

differences among people born after 1980, slightly

less attached feel Gen X respondents. This could be

explained by the fact that X and Y were those who

took active part in changes in their countries before

the accession to the EU, but Z have feeling of

belonging to the EU granted

This is a new concept focusing on the emotional

dimension of local/ national/ European identity. It is

concept of collective identity, which impacts

individual attitudes and behaviour.

Attitudes toward the European Union 15 Years after Accession: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland

349

Common, collective identity could be described

as a glue that holds together people, communities,

social and political systems, including the EU.

4.2 The EU Citizenship

The concept of European citizenship is based on the

notion if Europeans see themselves as European

citizens. There are several elements that create the

sense of European citizenship, including if Europeans

know their rights as European citizens. In our

research, we wanted to collect opinions on self-

identification of our respondents.

Our survey shows that more than 7 in ten

respondents (74.9%) feel themselves as the European

Union citizens, which is even slightly more than

feeling attached to Europe. (Fig. 2)

Figure 2: Do you feel yourself as the EU citizen? (N=467)

Most often in the interviews, the respondents

name freedom of movement as the most obvious

factor letting them feel as the EU citizens, as well

using the infrastructure improved due to the EU

funding, using euro. Many of them have travelled

outside the EU, and emphasize that feeling of the EU

citizenship raises when contacting other countries,

cultures. The privileges of being the EU citizen is

more seen in contrast with others.

It should be noted that in all generations is rather

strong feeling of being the EU citizen: 78% of the

youngest generation (Gen Z), slightly more (84%)

those born between 1980-1994 (Gen Y), and so-

called Gen X (1965-1980) (76%) identify themselves

as the EU citizens "strongly" or "rather strongly".

Among countries, nine in ten respondents from

Poland has the identity of the EU citizens, in average

eight in ten - in Latvia and Lithuania, and only half of

Estonian respondents. It could be explained by the

more representative sample in Estonian case, where

different generations are more represented in the

sample, keeping in mind that, for example, Baby

Boomers are more reluctant to identify themselves as

the EU citizens (55%).

There is a possibility for range of the NGO

projects explaining EU citizenship to people

expanding their focus from freedom of movement to

other freedoms and rights of the EU citizens.

Considering the issue of ageing population in Europe,

there is a large share of population that could use

more education and training on the EU awareness.

4.3 The EU Awareness

Both in the interviews and online survey, the

respondents were asked to name what are the EU

achievements they are proud of. In the interviews, this

was preceded by the question "What would you think

of a person saying "I am proud to be a part of the EU?"

There certainly is part of people who are focused on

the problems and challenges of the current situation,

which causes negative answers like "Do not

understand - what to be so proud of?" (Martin, EE).

Some respondents understand that it goes without

saying - it is just geographical fact of belonging to

certain part of the world. Nevertheless, it is nice to

hear the views like "That it is a person who is

educated and understands the benefits of the

European Union" (Nomeda, LT) or "It’s a happy

person and it’s Europe-friendly person" (Rysiek, PL).

In many interviews, the respondents emphasize

the feeling of safety and peace in the region as very

important achievement of the EU to be proud of, and

remember the history of the establishment of the EU

and one of its aims - restoring the peace during the

after-war period.

The survey affirms that free movement of people,

goods and services, peace among the member states,

and the student exchange (which, in fact is again the

freedom of movement) are three of the most popular

achievements (the respondents were asked to mark

several options from the list). The least marked

options were the common agricultural policy (1,9%),

the political influence (4,2%), level of social welfare

(4,6%), economics (4,6%). (Fig. 3).

Figure 3: What are the EU achievements you are proud of?

(N=467)

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In general, the respondents consider that the EU

conjure up to very positive (18,6%) or fairly positive

(40,7%) image, which is good in relation with

evaluation of its image as fairly negative (10,3%) or

very negative (5,1%). Still, 1/4 of the respondents are

neutral in their position evaluating the overall image

of the EU.

The authors of the research believe that the image

of the EU is related with its achievements the people

can be proud of. The respondents name basic

freedoms of the EU, especially freedom of the

movement of people (students exchange), as well as

peace among member states as the main reasons to be

proud of being part of the EU. In the result, more than

half of the respondents consider the EU image as

positive (very/ fairly), while 1/4 of the respondents

stay in neutral position.

4.4 Shared European Values

The question “What are 3 words that come into your

mind when someone says „Europe”?” was included

in the interviews to find out what are values that

possibly are shared by people. In the respondents'

answers, of course, their personal values are reflected

as well. Intentionally, the authors of the research

mentioned "Europe" in this question instead of the

"European Union", so the attitude towards the

organization, institutions would not prevail over the

factors that unite people living in Europe as part of

the world.

The EU values includes human dignity, human

rights, equality, democracy, freedom, rule of law. All

EU member states shall obey these values otherwise

their belonging to the Union could be under the

question. Defence of these values, promoting

citizens’ wellbeing and peace are main goals of the

EU. European Parliament is the institution following

and ensuring that these values are reflected in the EU

legislation.

Only by implementing the values declared by the

EU, it is possible that the values named by our

respondents could flourish. One of the most popular

associations named by the respondents is culture -

including deep cultural roots, as ancient Greek or

Roman cultures, and diversity of national cultures,

which are maintained within the union, not being

"unified". Of course, there are respondents that are

concerned about disappearing of cultural differences

under pressure of global/ continental European

cultures. Still, most of the respondents name unity as

a positive association.

The European history is shared by all the peoples -

the history of Christianity is mentioned, as well as

history of wars.

It should be noted that all associations mentioned

by the respondents are of positive connotations:

cooperation, unity, opportunities, democracy,

stability, freedom.

One of the most touching is the comparison of the

respondent expressing the following vision of

Europe - "I can see literally a picture of people

holding hands together and I can see circle. So that

would be probably friendship, community". (Renata,

LT)

In Eurobarometer survey, the question is asked

"Which are the subjects that most create a feeling of

community among EU citizens" and list of subjects

provided. Over one in five respondents cite 'values'

(23%) and 'history' (22%); at least a quarter of

Europeans mention the 'economy' (26%), which is the

most common answer in this survey, and 'culture'

(25%). (Standard Eurobarometer, Winter 2020-2021)

The authors of the project research consider that the

answers of the interviewed respondents reflect the

Eurobarometer survey results and illustrate them.

4.5 Country’s Position in the EU

The respondents were asked to evaluate what, in their

opinion, is the position of their country in the EU.

Here, the answers of the respondents are not so

optimistic. This question to some extent relates to the

question, if a citizen can make their impact to the

world, to what is happening in the world or just be a

passive token in the big game.

Figure 5: What are the benefits of your country being a

member state of the EU?

The interviewees believe that 15 years after

accession have not be enough to prove stable position

of their countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland)

in the European Union – “We are still only

establishing this position” (Andrzej, PL), “I feel

Estonia has little effect in the EU” (Terhi, EE), “I

doubt they are hardly proud of us as a Member State”

Attitudes toward the European Union 15 Years after Accession: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland

351

(Edgars, LV) - mentioning reasons as low GDP,

mentality, national politics, etc.

At the same time, it is positive that the

respondents see the advantageous aspects for the EU

of having their countries in the union – “I think that

Poland is enriching the EU”. (Renata, PL)

There are two in ten respondents considering their

country's positions as very strong or quite strong in

the EU (2,1% and 16,9% respectively). Almost four

in ten are pessimistic (or realistic?) on this position

identifying it as rather weak or very weak (26,6% and

11,8% respectively). 42,6% choose the middle

opinion, which is "neither strong, or weak". (Fig. 4)

Figure 4: “What is your attitude now about joining the EU

by your country in 2004” vs “In your opinion, what is the

position of your country in the EU?”

It is interesting to correlate answers to this

question with the replies to the question about the

respondents' attitude of accessing the EU by their

country. As the graph shows, those respondents, who

are satisfied that their country has joined the EU, have

more positive opinion and less negative opinion about

their country's current position in the EU.

The respondents have quite negative opinion

about their country's position in the EU. There is

opinion that national politics influence this position

quite strongly. At the same time there is opinion that

each country enriches the Union. Among those

respondents who positively evaluates their country's

accession to the EU 15 years ago, there are more of

those who evaluate their country's current position

more positively and see the development

perspectives.

The European Parliament Eurobarometer survey

"A glimpse of certainty in uncertain times" (2020)

includes a regular question to its respondents:

"Taking everything into account, would you say that

(OUR COUNTRY) has on balance benefited or not

from being a member of the EU?" The Parlemeter

2020 survey finds that in all 27 EU member states

more than 50% of respondents believe that their

country has benefited from being a member of the

EU. Particularly, 90% of Lithuanian, 89% of

Estonian, 88% of Polish, and 77% of Latvian

respondents. (A Glimpse of Certainty, 2020)

Similar as in the Parlemeter survey, among the

benefits of being part of the EU are mentioned

economic growth, improved cooperation,

strengthening security, new work and travelling

opportunities, democracy, availability of the funds for

various projects – from infrastructure and

environment protection till education and human

rights. (Fig. 5)

To quantify the data, our survey confirms that

three top positions in the list of benefits of the country

being a member state of the EU take opportunity to

travel (22,4%), opportunity to work abroad (16,5%)

and financial support of the EU (16,7%), followed by

access to a bigger market for businesses (11,75%).

Asked individually, more than half of the

respondents (excluding 15,4% who are too young to

compare) evaluate the changes in their lives for

good - 20,8% reply that their life has definitely

changed for good and 37% - their life in some aspects

has changed for good. Of course, the changes could

be affected by various, including, personal factors,

but to large extent it is also of being within the EU.

4.6 Challenges of the EU

The Special EB-500 “Future of Europe” (FoE) was

conducted in October and November 2020 in the 27

EU Member States. Respondents express opinion that

the main global challenge that will affect the future is

climate change (45%). The second challenge as

assessed by Europeans is terrorism (38%), the third –

health-related issues (37%). The fourth most cited

challenge, mentioned by just over a quarter of

Europeans, is forced migration and displacement

(27%). Other challenges mentioned by just under one

in five Europeans include the further rise of populism

(17%). (Future of Europe, 2020)

Figure 6: What are three the most important challenges the

EU is facing at the moment?

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In our interviews, the respondents in addition to the

mentioned problems, indicate economic challenges

(mostly due to the pandemics) and about Brexit as a

concern about stability and continuity of the EU.

To quantify the data, top three challenges as

ranged by the respondents are health related issues,

i.e., Covid-19 (20%), refugees and mass migration

issues (19%), economic situation and fear of

economic crisis (16%), closely followed by the

environment issues (15%) and society ageing (13%).

In the interviews, as well in the open-ended question,

the rise of populism and human rights issues are

mentioned as a concern by the respondents. (Fig. 6)

Eight in ten respondents (82,4%) are concerned

that these challenges would impact their lives (marks

6 and above in scale of 10) in answer to the question

"To what extent these EU level challenges could

impact your personal life in the future).

4.7 Future Prospects

Eurobarometer survey "Future of Europe" (October-

November, 2020) shows that comparable living

standards and stronger solidarity among Member

States (35% and 30% respectively) are regarded as

the two most helpful developments for the future of

Europe. The respondents also believe that

development of common health policy and

comparable education standards (25% and 22%

respectively) should be prioritised. Lower ranked

priorities, mentioned by less than two in ten, include

energy independence (19%), deeper economic

integration (17%), a stronger industrial capacity

(16%), and a common army (10%). Finally, less than

one in ten respondents mention the introduction of the

euro in all EU countries (7%).

Despite concerns and challenges that the EU is

currently facing, 7 in 10 respondents feel optimistic

about the future of the EU (including 59,1% fairly

optimistic and 11,8% very optimistic). Though, there

is opinion that "Always all unions, empires collapse"

(Anna, LV) and Brexit and covid-19 have affected

trust in the future of the EU, most of the interviewees

consider themselves as optimists. (Fig. 7)

In order to last, the EU shall tackle all its

challenges - "I believe that EU won't last. At least, it

can't go on like this any longer. There have to be a lot

of changes - in politics, people have to change, more

equality must occur and only then this union may

last." (Luule, EE)

Analyzing by the age group, it is obvious that

there are more optimistic respondents in Gen Z

(84,7%) and Gen Y (76,8%) age groups, less in Gen

X (65,6%), only half of Baby Boomers generation

(50%) feel themselves optimistic, and even less the

elder population respondents.

Active involvement and active life position also

determine the positive attitude to the future.

Figure 7: would you say that you are very optimistic, fairly

optimistic, fairly pessimistic or very pessimistic about the

future of the eu?

4 CONCLUSIONS

Attachment is a new concept focusing on the

emotional dimension of local/ national/ European

identity. Common, collective identity could be

described as a glue that holds together people,

communities, social and political systems, including

the EU. Studying impact of collective identity on

attitudes and behaviour of individuals could provide

interesting results in understanding the attachment to

the idea of Europe and what this attachment includes.

There is a possibility for range of the NGO

projects explaining EU citizenship to people

expanding their focus from freedom of movement to

other freedoms and rights of the EU citizens.

Considering the issue of ageing population in Europe,

there is a large share of population that could use

more education and training on the EU awareness.

Most of the respondents mention positive

associations with Europe: cooperation, unity,

opportunities, democracy, stability, freedom. These

are possible only because of implementing the

European values defined by the EU. Commonly

Europe is associated with its history, values, religion.

In comparison, the Eurobarometer survey ranges the

'culture' as the second subject shared by Europeans,

following 'economics', and being followed by 'values'

and 'history'.

The image of the EU is related with its

achievements the people can be proud of. The

respondents name basic freedoms of the EU,

especially freedom of the movement of people

(students exchange), as well as peace among member

states as the main reasons to be proud of being part of

the EU. In the result, more than half of the

Attitudes toward the European Union 15 Years after Accession: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland

353

respondents consider the EU image as positive (very/

fairly), while 1/4 of the respondents stay in neutral

position.

The respondents have quite negative opinion

about their country's position in the EU. There is

opinion that national politics influence this position

quite strongly. At the same time there is opinion that

each country enriches the Union. Among those

respondents who positively evaluates their country's

accession to the EU 15 years ago, there are more of

those who evaluate their country's current position

more positively and see the development

perspectives.

Among the benefits of being part of the EU the

respondents mention opportunity to travel and work,

economic growth, improved cooperation, security,

democracy, availability of the funds for various

projects - from infrastructure and environment

protection till education and human rights. More than

half of the respondents indicate that their lives have

definitely or in some aspects changed for good after

the accession the EU 15 years ago.

Health related issues (Covid-19), refugees and

mass migration issues, economic situation and fear of

economic crisis, environment issues, society ageing,

rise of populism, and protection of human rights

issues are mentioned as main challenges of the EU

level in the future.The respondents are definitely

concerned that these EU level challenges could

impact their lives in the future.

Despite concerns and challenges that the EU is

currently facing,7 in 10 respondents feel optimistic

about the future of the EU (including 59,1% fairly

optimistic and 11,8% very optimistic). Active

involvement and active life position determine the

positive attitude to the future. Analysing by the age

group, there are more optimistic respondents in Gen

Z (84,7%) and Gen Y (76,8%) age groups, less in Gen

X (65,6%), only half of Baby Boomers generation

(50%) feel themselves optimistic, and even less the

elder population respondents.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the European Association “World – Our

Home” (Latvia) for managing and coordinating the

project “The 15th Anniversary of the EU

Enlargement” (REF. NO. 609177-CITIZ-1-2019-1-

LV-CITIZ-REMEM) funded by the program Europe

for Citizens (Strand 1 “European remembrance”), as

well as participating organizations for carrying out

the research fieldwork – MTÜ Noored Toredate

Mõtetega (Estonia), Unique Projects (Lithuania), and

KOBIETY.LODZ.PL (Poland).

REFERENCES

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Curley, T. M. (2009). Social Identity Theory and EU

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Hummon, D. (1992). “Community attachment. Local

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Maricchiolo, F., Mosca, O., Paolini, D., & Fornara, F.

(2021). The Mediating Role of Place Attachment

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645648. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645648

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