Stand together or alone? Public support for European economic solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

In response to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union has launched one of the largest assistance packages in EU history, where all 27 EU member states are asked to jointly borrow 500 billion Euros to finance grants to areas hardest hit by the crises. Despite the unprecedented size of this package, we know less about citizens’ support for such a common EU response to the crises. Using unique data from a representative survey in Germany, Italy and Romania, this study shows that while average levels of public support for cross-border financial assistance varies across countries, individual-level determinants are generally unrelated to perceptions of the crises as such. Instead, slow moving factors unrelated to the crises, including general value orientation, cosmopolitanism and trust determine expressions of cross-border social solidarity. We discuss implications for understanding public responses to major crises and long-term support for a common EU response.