The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trust in the European Union

Abstract

At the beginning of 2020, the world faced a new and unexpected challenge. Such a harmful situation has a potential to increase tensions in societies and create citizens’ distrust in their own governments and the European Union. In relation to these observations, the main hypothesis assumes that citizens’ trust in the Union decreased during the pandemic, compared to previous periods. Thus, the aim of the study is to identify the dynamics of trust in the EU in the member states. The research’s object is the citizens of the EU member states and the focus on dynamics in the levels of trust in 2016–2020, measured based on selected indicators. The data for analysis comes from the Eurobarometer. Statistical methods (frequencies and cross tables) and comparative approach are used for the analysis. On the macrolevel, it seemed that European leaders could do better, especially in the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the results of the Eurobarometer survey performed in the summer of 2020 show that average trust in the Union did not decreased. Тhe data shows that there is a variety across the countries, which was not presented in the current study. Thus, a further examination focused on the context in each of the countries is required, namely policies and measures stringency.