96.5% of Romanian peasants never received European funds while 61% think they cannot

Luni, 11 februarie 2008, 9:28 English | Business

Almost half of Romanian peasants are concerned by the European Union requirements in agriculture, the 2007 Rural Barometer data shows, set up at the request of the Governmental Strategy Agency. However, 96.5% of them never received European funds while 61% think they cannot get them.

The Barometer points out that only 5.6% of the respondents plan to work abroad this year. Regarding spare time, 82.4% of respondents spend it watching television while 89.5% never accessed the Internet.

The data reveals that almost half of the respondents know about European Union funds and 69.7% consider Romania's membership a positive thing. However, 0.5% received European funds but data shows that 70% of them are not interested in getting funds for the moment.

What is more, compiled data points out that 82.8% of the peasants trust the local priest most while 80.5% trust their doctors. Only 5.6% of them wish to work abroad while 6% would like to visit countries abroad.

The Barometer was set up during November-December 2007 and counted the views of some 1,500 persons, aged 18+, living in the countryside.