Press Release: Public opinion in the European Union is broadly favourable to European agricultural policy and support for farmers

European citizens broadly support the new aims of agricultural policy as conducted at European Union level and a majority are in favour of maintaining its budget. This is one of the main findings of a survey of people's attitudes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), published on 30 March 2010. Following two similar polls carried out in 2006 and 2007, this latest survey confirms that the guiding principles and aims of the CAP are supported by a majority of people. The survey was carried out between 13 November and 9 December 2009 by TNS Opinion at the behest of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. Following the traditional Eurobarometer method, a thousand individual interviews were conducted in each of the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union.