Poles skeptical of authorities expect reconstruction under EU leadership

According to the latest survey conducted by Datapraxis and YouGov in nine EU Member States, 68 percent of Poles expect that recovery after the health crisis will take place under the leadership of the EU. Based on data from nine EU Member States, covering a total of two-thirds of the European population, the thinktank European Foreign Affairs Council (ECFR) disputes claims of a sharp rise in both nationalist euroscepticism and pro-European federalism, as well as support for mass state and alleged intervention increase of expert authority.

According to the ECFR survey and analysis, only 29 percent of residents in all nine European countries have greater confidence in the government and at the same time positively assess its efficiency. On the other hand, 33 percent lost confidence in the government's power and negatively rated the efficiency of their own government.

"The percentage of Poles who think that the PiS government is doing well during a pandemic (42 percent) is roughly the same as those who express the opposite view (40 percent)," the report reads.

Still. most European citizens have little confidence in experts and authorities about the coronavirus crisis. It is at the lowest level in France (15 percent), Poland (20 percent) and Spain (21 percent). Moreover, the opinion that experts and authorities have their secrets and hide information is most often expressed by Polish (53 percent), French (47 percent) and Italian (46%) citizens.

“The Covid-19 crisis is probably the largest social experiment in our lives. It is too early to predict how radically it will change our societies, but it is already clear that the pandemic has changed the way Europeans view the world outside Europe and, consequently, the role of the EU in their lives. The great paradox of COVID-19 is that it is the absence and not the success that the European Union has shown its importance in the first stage of the crisis, which has prompted European governments to turn to deeper integration,” Ivan Krastev, chairman of the Center for Liberal Strategies, said.

"The need for wider European cooperation is not the result of an appetite for institutional development, but rather of a deeper anxiety about losing control of the situation in a dangerous world. It is Europe by necessity and not by choice. The European project is currently being re-examined in the context of the integration process based not on ideals but on a common fate. Joint geography – more than shared values – dictates joint action,” Mark Leonard, founder and director of ECFR, added.

(WBJ)