Eurobarometer: 3 out of 4 Spaniards support more decision-making at EU level

From the Spanish point of view, Spain’s main problem is inflation, followed by the economic situation.

The European Commission’s representative in Spain published on 23 March the results of the latest Spanish Standard Eurobarometer. The survey, conducted in January-February this year, showed that inflation is the most important issue for Spaniards, with a greater sense of belonging to the EU, strong support for aid to Ukraine and EU political energy. The speakers were María Lledó Laredo, Secretary General of the EU, Government of Spain and Lucas González Ojeda, Acting Director of the European Commission Representation in Spain.

Economic situation and future expectations

54% of Spaniards rank inflation as the number one problem facing the country, a figure that has doubled since last year’s report. The economic situation (24%) is the next most important concern for Spaniards. While unemployment is a concern for only 10% of Europeans, for Spaniards this figure rises to 22%.

With regard to expectations for the next 12 months, the same trend as in previous editions is maintained: While Spaniards rate the economic situation of the country (77 %) and of the European Union (61 %) as bad, 70 % rate the financial situation of their households as positive.

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Institutions, media and the European Union

On the level of confidence of Spaniards towards the European Union, the figures are better than in the last edition: around nine out of ten Spaniards (86%) feel they are citizens of the European Union, a figure that improves by five percentage points on the previous year’s figure. Sixty-six percent are optimistic about the future of the European project. In addition, the vast majority are in favour of more decision-making at EU level (76%), well above the European average (57%), and of common policies on defence (84%), migration policy (82%), energy (82%) and foreign policy (81%). Moreover, for almost seven out of ten Spaniards (69%), the voice of the European Union counts in the world.

“This year’s Eurobarometer clearly shows an upward trend in citizens’ confidence in the European Union: nine out of ten Spaniards feel that they are EU citizens and two out of three are optimistic about the future of the European project. Another sign of confidence in the European institutions is that a very large majority of Spanish citizens are in favour of more decisions being taken at European level, especially in the areas of defence, migration and energy,” said Lucas González Ojeda.

As in previous editions, national institutions continue to receive mostly negative ratings from citizens, who rate them worse on average than EU citizens as a whole; only health and medical staff (87%), of the options selected in the analysis, receive positive ratings.

Another issue addressed is disinformation: the vast majority of Spaniards are aware that fake news is a problem for Spain (83%) or for democracy in general (86%).

European Union priorities

María Lledó Laredo presented the results related to European Union priorities such as energy policy, NextGenerationEU funds and EU action in the face of the war in Ukraine.

During her speech, Lledó stressed that “One of the most relevant conclusions drawn from the Eurobarometer is that Spanish society is profoundly pro-European and considers that the solutions to many of the challenges must be offered together, from the European level”.

On the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the vast majority of Spaniards (82%) are in favour of providing financial support to the country, a figure higher than the EU average (77%), and in favour of increasing EU defence cooperation in this context (82%). Although 86% of Spaniards believe that Russia is a threat to EU security, a slightly smaller percentage of Spaniards (64%) think that more money should be spent on defence. Spaniards believe that the EU is defending European values by opposing Russia (80 %).

Regarding the NextGenerationEU funds, for 53% of Spaniards and 54% of Europeans, the plan will be effective in responding to current economic challenges.

On energy, the vast majority of Spaniards (93%), to a greater extent than Europeans as a whole (86%), are in favour of investing in renewable energies and increasing energy efficiency; they are also in favour of reducing oil and gas imports (92%). Furthermore, nine out of ten Spaniards (87%) have recently taken measures to reduce their energy consumption or plan to do so in the near future.

Finally, Spaniards (71%) are in favour of enlarging the EU to more countries, a figure well above that of EU citizens as a whole (52%).

More information

European Commission