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

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 46 states that 55% of Europeans think that the economic programme will be effective to tackle the economic con- sequences of the pandemic. 38% think that it will not (7% does not know). Out of the positive answers, 7% say that it will be very effective and 48% quite effective. However, “not very effective” is the answer making the most progress since EB93, gaining 14 points up to a total of 31%. 23 out of the 27 Member States record confidence rates in the plan that are greater than or equal to 50%. If we add those who think that the plan will be very ef- fective and quite effective, Malta (83%), Ireland (77%), Croatia (68%) and Poland (67%) head the list of the most optimistic countries.The very effective mention nev- er manages to be in the majority, but it varies between 10 and 15% in 10 countries (Malta, Croatia, Poland, Italy, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia,Austria and Greece). In the meantime, the most pessimistic citizens regarding NextGeneration EU are in Germany (48%), Latvia (47%), France (45%) and Finland (42%). It is interesting to see the results in States that call themselves “frugal”, meaning the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark, joined by Finland during the Euro- pean Fund negotiations. In most of these countries, trust in NextGeneration EU is over 54%; in the Netherlands and Denmark, this rate is even over 60%. On the oth- er hand, Finnish citizens seem to agree with the more conservative stance of its government. The Scandinavian country records the lowest and the highest rate of mis- trust in the rescue plan. Nor do the countries that trust the plan the most cor- respond to the countries that will receive the most funds, according to the figures. Poland and Italy are among the 5 Member States that see the plan as effective, with positive answers over 65%. The results from Spain are very surprising, standing only 22nd out of 23 in terms of seeing the NextGeneration EU as effective. Spanish survey respondents who gave a positive answer are still a majority though, with 52%. To attain this idea of the EU, European citizens are aware that reforms are necessary. According to the EBS, almost half of them (47%) are in favour of the EU al- though not how things have been run so far. 23% sup- port the EU “as it stands.”