[FR] The renewed Europhilia of Slovenians

With Slovenia having just taken over from France as holder of the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Jacques Delors Institute is examining, as it has done for various Member States, the state of public opinion towards the EU in this country, where parliamentary elections are due to be held on 24 April in an uncertain political context. Mr Janez Jansa, who returned as Prime Minister in March 2020, is highly controversial, particularly because of the increasingly conservative and nationalist positions he defends, following the example of his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán. He has a minority but stable base of support, facing a less structured and divided opposition. The attitudes of Slovenian citizens towards the EU may be a factor influencing the outcome of this election.

This document traces the evolution of these attitudes since the country joined the EU, drawing in particular on the results of the European Commission’s Standard Eurobarometer surveys and, on certain points, on those of the European Parliament’s surveys. In addition, the findings of qualitative research conducted at the request of these institutions at the beginning of the period under review, followed by observations since then by the researchers who conducted it, shed light on the significance of the figures.