Well done Brussels?
How did the EU handle the Corona crisis?
In the last weeks, EU Watch conducted a survey about the EU’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. We wanted to know what YOU think.
The online questionnaire was open from mid-March to mid-April 2021. Well over 100 people, among them both experts on European affairs, journalists, policy-makers in the European Parliament, but also ordinary citizens, participated and shared their views and insights with us. While this poll does not claim to be representative, it shows what we believe are some important trends. Following is a summary of the main findings.
- A majority of Europeans expect the EU to deliver a Europe-wide, coordinated response to the pandemic, instead of leaving key issues to member states or lower levels of government.
- While 53 percent of respondents in our survey were satisfied with the EU’s efforts of maintaining a free flow of goods in the Internal Market (20 percent weren’t), the opposite was true when it came to maintaining free movement: 29 percent were very dissatisfied and another 29 percent somewhat dissatisfied with the EU in that respect. The survey reflects the high value participants attribute to key aspects of the EU, notably freedom of movement of persons, goods and services, and the abolition of borders.
- On the vaccination campaign, a large majority (68 percent) said it was right that the negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies was handled by the European Commission. However, three out of five respondents said the EU should have invested more money into vaccine research and even more (65 percent) said the Commission acted too slowly in its negotiations with the companies.
- On the market authorisation of the vaccines, 50 percent agreed with the Commission’s approach and only 34 percent said they should have been approved faster.
- Opinion is divided over whether or not the EU should gain further powers to deal with future pandemics. In our survey, 43 percent said they agree with strengthening the EU vis-à-vis the national interests, 36 percent said they don’t. While 47 percent of respondents said the position of the European Parliament must be bolstered, 65 percent want the Commission to become stronger.
- In contrast, most respondents believe that national governments should have less of a say in comparison with the EU level. Furthermore, 58 percent said that the EU should gain more competences in the area of health policy in order to deal better with future pandemics.
- Two thirds of all respondents said that the criteria for lockdowns and the rules for quarantine should be harmonised at EU level, preventing a patchwork of different rules across the Union.
Summary of survey responses
Time frame: March/April 2021
Languages: English, French, German, Italian
Respondents: 110
Method: Online
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