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Brussels (pte031/04.04.2003/12:33) - EU candidate countries are more optimistic than member countries about the power and benefit of science, but are abandoning their research due to poor career prospects, says a Eurobarometer survey by the European Commission http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/press/2003/pdf/cc-report_en.pdf
European Research Commissioner Philippe Basquin said: "The time is ripe for greater investment in research in these countries as part of the enlarged EU. We must ensure that we invest now in our scientific legacy for future European generations."
Carried out in November 2002, the survey asked sample questions of 12,247 people from the 13 candidate countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey.
The study shows that science has a good image in the candidate countries, and that their citizens believe it will help to cure illnesses such as cancer and AIDS (77%). At the same time, about 56 per cent of those questioned said they were neither interested nor informed about science and technology (EU15: 45%). The highest degree of interest was found in Cyprus (58%), Hungary (53%), Malta (50%) and Slovenia (50%). The least interest was shown in Bulgaria (34%) and Turkey (22%). Romania scored an average 35 per cent.
Participants attributed the lack of interest among young people in the candidate countries to poor employment prospects. In general however, EU enlargement is seen to promote the scientific potential of both the candidate and member states.
Further information on the survey can be found under http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion or http://www.cordis.le/candidate_countries .
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