THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION REPORT. Europe in a period of transition

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 42 − The Standard Eurobarometer 94 (that we will abbre- viate to EB94). The results from this survey, carried out between February and March 2021 in all 27 Member States, were published last April. − The European Parliament special Eurobarometer Re- silience and recovery: public opinion one year into the pandemic. In this case, the survey took place between March and April 2021 and its results were published last May. − The paper entitled Crisis of confidence: How Euro- peans see their place in the world (Dennison & Puglie- rin, 2021) published last June. This analysis is based on a survey commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).This analyses how Europeans see the EU as an international player in the fight aga- inst Covid-19 and what type of player the public wants the EU to be in the post-coronavirus world. The data collection work for this survey took place between late March and May 2021 in 12 countries: in Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Bulgaria. Firstly, we will look at Europeans’ satisfaction with how the EU has managed the crisis arising from the coro- navirus pandemic. Secondly, we will examine whether, regardless of opinions on how it was managed, the COV- ID-19 crisis has longer term consequences on feelings of belonging to the EU, trust and the image of the EU. This article will round off with an analysis of the trust that Europeans put in the EU’s capacity to make correct decisions in the future. Europeans’ satisfaction concerning measures adopted by the EU to fight the coronavirus pandemic The survey carried out by the Istituto Cattaneo for FEPS and FES devotes an entire block to evaluating the mea- sures adopted by local and national governments and the EU. It introduces a variable called the “COVID-19 dilem- ma”, meaning mediation between protecting citizens’ health and protecting the economy. It differentiates the players in charge of taking measures to protect health (healthcare systems, national governments and local go- vernments) from people in charge of taking measures to protect the economy (national governments and the EU). It asks the survey respondents to rate the EU on a scale from 0 (completely negative) to 10 (completely positive) referring to measures to protect the economy. This study frequently uses the format that asks survey respondents to pick their position on an 11-point scale. This system makes it possible to express highly nuanced positions, particularly regarding more ambivalent opin- ions.Thanks to the use of more than one central position, they can determine three blocks more precisely: negative (0 to 4), complete ambivalence (5) and positive (6 to 10). The results from this survey show that Europeans give a basic pass mark to the EU’s actions concerning the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. In the various study countries, the marks range from 5.1 (France, Spain and Italy) and 5.3 (Sweden and Germany); the European average is 5.2. 33% of the survey respondents give a negative score (from 0 to 4), 19% an average mark (5) and 48% give a positive score (6 to 10). Still according to this survey, the EU’s actions scored higher than the national Governments, which got an average score of 4.8. Italy, Poland and Spain were the least satisfied with their respective Governments. 50% of Spanish citizens gave their government a negative score (between 0 and 4); in Poland, more than 62%. Alternately, Germany, France and Sweden rated their governments’ actions more positively than EU actions in terms of protecting the economy. Three major profiles stand out. On the one hand, there are Italy and Spain, which give the EU the lowest score (5.1) but are even less satisfied with their respec- tive governments. In fact, these are the two countries that give the lowest scores to this management, with 4.8 for Italy and 4.1 for Spain. France, the country giving the third highest score for the EU’s action with a 5.1, is more satisfied with national management, scoring it with 5.3.At the other extreme, there is Poland, whose citizens