The Euro – Public Opinion in the Ten Years after the Euro Changeover

Public sentiment indicators available for the period from 2002 through 2011 provide a clear profile of public opinion on the euro for Austria and partly also for the euro area. Essentially, the period following the introduction of euro banknotes and coins falls into two distinct phases during which two opposing sentiments prevailed: During the first phase, satisfaction with, and acceptance of, the euro rose to a high level until 2009, and during the second phase, the sovereign debt crisis and its consequences caused pro-euro sentiment to decline from 2010, culminating in a critical assessment during the height of the crisis in the summer and fall of 2011. Survey ratings dropped from a high positive sentiment of Austrian respondents on the euro, nearly 80%, in 2009 to approximately 60% in fall 2011. The decline in confidence in the euro appears to have been caused by EU and national policymakers struggling with crisis management rather than by the euro itself. As the runaway public debt and financial speculation are seen as the cause of the crisis, most Austrians and euro area citizens agree with financial and economic policy measures targeted at strengthening Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in the long run. Although the euro faces great challenges, a clear majority of Austrians (and of other euro area citizens) are convinced that the euro is here to stay. People in Austria and in the euro area reported hardly any difficulties in the day-to-day use of euro cash. Some respondents are still disposed to comparing euro with schilling or other former currencies in the euro area, above all for exceptional purchases. Those surveyed overwhelmingly agree that they have personally benefited from the euro: price transparency, easier and cheaper travel, and lower costs for payment transactions are considered undisputed advantages of the single currency. Even if euro inflation has been low in the long run, people continue to associate the introduction of the euro with a rise in prices. The share of respondents who see the euro as very stable and expect it to remain so diminished noticeably in 2011 as a consequence of higher inflation. Whereas at the end of 2007 almost 80% of those surveyed considered the euro stable, this figure had fallen to just over 40% at the end of 2011. Fears of higher inflation along with a loss in the value of savings ranked as Austrians’ biggest concerns at the turn of the year 2011/2012.