Between 3 and 17 September 2020, Kantar carried out a public opinion survey on behalf of the European Committee of the Regions on the views of EU citizens on the coronavirus crisis and the role of regional and local authorities and - more generally - on whether regions and cities should have more influence in EU politics and polices. In short, results show that
- more Europeans trust regional and local authorities (52%) than they trust the EU (47%) and their national government (43%);
- similarly, regional or local authorities are more trusted (48%) than the EU (45%) and national governments (44%) to take, now and in the future, the right measures to overcome the economic and social impact of the coronavirus crisis;
- for both questions, there is a clear geographical pattern: Trust in the regional and local authorities is higher in northern and western EU countries; this pattern is similar for national governments but not for the EU, for which higher levels of trust in the EU can be found in most eastern Member States when compared to those of national governments;
- around two-thirds of Europeans think that regional and local authorities do not have enough influence on the decisions taken at the European Union level;
- Europeans would like their regional and local authorities to have more influence on the decisions taken at EU level; the most mentioned policies for more influence would be preferred are those related to health (45%), employment and social affairs (43%), and education, training and culture (40%).
- a clear majority of Europeans (58%) think that more influence of regional and local authorities would have a positive impact on the EU's ability to solve problems, and this is the majority view in all Member States.
