58% of Europeans are Suffering Financially During the Coronavirus Pandemic But Some, like Spain and Italy, More Than Others

Fifty eight per cent of all Europeans have said to be suffering financially as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, some cited reasons have included: loss of income, unemployment, use of savings, and difficulties to pay the rent.

ACCORDING to a survey conducted by the European Parliament at the end of April, 58 per cent of Europeans are experiencing some type of financial struggle as a result of the coronavirus. Amongst the issues mentioned in the survey are, a loss of income (30 per cent of respondents), partial or total unemployment (23 per cent), the use of personal savings before intended (21 per cent), difficulties to pay rent, bills, or bank loans (14 per cent) and difficulties to maintain a decent diet (9 per cent).

Furthermore, the survey revealed that one out of every 10 respondents had to ask for financial help from a family or friend, whereas 3 per cent were forced to declare bankruptcy. In general, survey respondents in Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Spain have more probability of having experienced financial troubles whilst Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Austria were least affected by the crisis. Even more illuminating is the fact that more than 50 per cent of those surveyed in those countries said they experienced none of the financial issues outlined earlier.

Regarding the battle against this economic and health crisis, 69 per cent of those surveyed believe that the European Union (EU) should have ‘more powers’ in the fight against the coronavirus. According to the survey, European citizens would like the European Union (EU) to focus primarily on ensuring sufficient medical supplies for all Member States, as well as allocating research funds to develop a vaccine, providing direct financial support to countries and improving scientific cooperation between them.

Furthermore, 57 per cent of respondents have said they are dissatisfied with the solidarity shown between the EU Member States during the pandemic and only 42 per cent of them believe that the measures and actions taken by the community club so far have been sufficient.

The highest compliance rates occur in Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland, while contrastingly, respondents from Italy, Spain and Greece are amongst the most dissatisfied, followed by citizens of Austria, Belgium and Sweden.

The survey was carried out by the Kantar company between April 23 and May 1, 2020, with 21,804 citizens from 21 EU Member States, including Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg.

According to a statement released by the EP on Tuesday, the questions were asked to people aged between 16 and 64 (16-54 in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia), and national representativeness have been guaranteed by the quotas of gender, age and region.

The European Chamber will publish the full results of the survey, including national and sociodemographic data tables, after June 2020.