The citizens of Serbia, as well as those in the EU, currently have the most important issues on their personal health and economic situation, and most expect a recovery from the corona crisis in two or more years, a new specialized study by the European Commission Eurobarometer showed.
In Serbia, 26 and in the EU, 42 percent of respondents expect recovery from the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic in 2023 or later, according to the results of research published today.
23% of respondents in Serbia expect that recovery from the consequences of the pandemic will occur in 2021, and 24% think that it will happen a year later.
Respondents also spoke about measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic, especially imprisonment, which, as it turned out, the citizens of Serbia found it harder to bear than the citizens of the EU. In Serbia, 19 percent and in the EU, 31 percent, said they found it fairly easy to deal with it.
At the same time, 35 percent of respondents in Serbia and 25 percent at the EU level struggled with closure measures. One of the questions concerned the image of the EU, which is positive for 33% of Serbian citizens and 40% of EU citizens.
At the same time, 70 percent of Serbian citizens assess the situation in the country’s economy as bad, which is two percentage points more than in the fall of 2019, and 26 percent as good, three percentage points less. In the EU, 64% see the situation in their country’s economy as bad and 34% as good.
Also, in Serbia, 53 percent of respondents rate the financial situation of their household as bad, and 43 percent as good, compared to 28 and 70 percent in the EU. In Serbia, 26 percent of citizens expect the economic situation in the country to be better in the next year, 33 percent think that everything will be the same, and 37 percent that it will be worse, which is 19 percentage points more than in the previous Eurobarometer.
In the EU, a fifth expect the economic situation to be better in the next 12 months, and almost half to be worse. The two most important personal issues at the moment for the respondents in Serbia are health (52 percent) and the economic situation (37 percent), while in the EU it is health for 31 and the economic situation for 33 percent of citizens.
European citizens, the research showed, cited the economic situation, the state of public finances and immigration as the three biggest fears at the moment. However, 60 percent of Europeans are optimistic about the future of the EU, with the most optimists in Ireland (81 percent), Lithuania, Poland and Croatia (more than 70 percent), and the least in Greece (44 percent) and Italy (49 percent).
The survey “Summer 2020 – Standard Eurobarometer” (EB 93) was conducted this summer in 27 EU member states, Great Britain and EU candidate countries.
In Serbia, the research was conducted between July 15 and August 6 and included 1,073 respondents, N1 reports.
