European Parliament: EU survey and pandemic. Majority of citizens ask for larger common budget to overcome COVID-19 crisis

Almost eight in ten respondents across the EU (77%; 81% in Italy) support the concept that the EU “should only provide funds to Member States if the national government implements the rule of law and democratic principles”. At least seven in ten respondents agree with this statement in 26 EU Member States. This is according to a survey commissioned by the European Parliament, whose results were made known today, while the plenary session of Parliament is underway in Brussels. The survey also shows that “54% of Europeans believe the EU should have greater financial means to be able to overcome the consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic”. In 20 EU countries, the majority of respondents agree with this statement; in 14 countries, the absolute majority of respondents support a “larger” EU budget. In Italy, 64% of respondents say they are in favour. When asked about which policy fields such enlarged EU budget should be spent on, “more than half of participants (54%) say that public health should be a priority (55% in Italy), followed by economic recovery and new opportunities for businesses (42%), climate change and environmental protection (37%) and employment and social affairs (35%)”. At EU level, climate change and the environment has replaced employment in the top three spending priorities compared to the last survey conducted in June 2020.

The results of the survey are available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/resources/library/media/20201020RES89701/20201020RES89701.pdf
Valentina Bombelli