Cypriots welcome the EU recovery plan but do not trust their government
The EU should only fund member states that respect the rule of law and democratic principles. That’s what nine out of ten Cypriots believe according to a Eurobarometer survey published on 10-09-2001.
A total of 26,459 Europeans were interviewed online. The survey was conducted between August 17 and 25 in anticipation of next week’s EU plenary session, where Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will make a State of the Union address.
Most member state contributed about 1,000 interviews, but Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta, due to their smaller size, contributed a smaller sample of approximately 500 interviews. In Cyprus 518 members of the public were interviewed.
Cyprus was the second EU member state to express confidence in the Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery plan, with almost 80% of interviewees saying that they believed it can help the country overcome the economic and social consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and prepare it for future challenges. The EU 27 average is 60%.
However, only 30% said they trust the government to properly manage EU funds, as opposed to the EU 27 average of 44%. Only 7% said they had total trust in the government, while 63% disagreed.
Across the EU, 85% agreed that transparency and effective controls are necessary for the use of these funds, with 93% of Cypriots agreeing.
Furthermore, 77% of Europeans and 84% of Cypriots agreed that local authorities and civil society should be involved in consultations on how to use EU funds.
Cyprus was among EU member states with the highest support for respect for human rights and the rule of law being conditions for receiving EU funding, with 95% saying that the basic principles of democracy, human rights and rule of law should be a priority in relations with countries such as the US, China, Russia and Turkey. The EU 27 average was 85%.
When it comes to Covid-19, asked to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 how worried they were about their household’s financial future, Cypriots scored an average of 6.8 with the EU 27 average at 5.3.
Around 60% of Cypriots were satisfied with the government’s handling of vaccinations (50% EU 27 average), 63% were similarly satisfied with the EU’s handling of vaccinations (49% EU 27 average), and 61% happy with the solidarity shown between member states (53% EU 27 average).
Moreover, 83% of Cypriots believed the EU played a key role in vaccine accessibility in their country.
In general, 63% of Cypriots and 53% of Europeans said they had a positive image of the EU.
Asked what priorities they think the European Parliament should focus on, Cypriots answered tackling poverty and social exclusion (50%), the economy and job creation (43%), climate change (39%), human rights (31%), equality and the rule of law (25%) and immigration (23%).
By comparison, in Europe on average, climate change came first with 43%, poverty with 32%, economy and crime/terrorism with 31%, public health with 27%, immigration with 27% and human rights with 24%.
