The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) recently issued a pan-European survey to obtain a better picture of what the EU’s response to the pandemic should be, which will be the main topic of discussion later this week as European leaders prepare to meet.
The survey obtained responses from over 15,000 citizens from 10 of the current and former (the UK) European Union members. The survey found that there has been an increase of 2% of EU residents who believe that the European Union’s political system worked well between 2019 and 2020.
The survey also found that residents of the bloc believe that Germany is the most important country to “have a good relationship” and that citizens in European countries are concerned that the EU’s security partnership with the US has reached a critical stage, as many Europeans believe that the United States would not come to their rescue in the event of a crisis. In fact, only 10% of respondents said that the US is a “reliable” ally after four years of Donald Trump in the White House. As a result, a full two-thirds of respondents said they would prefer having a European-level defense plan rather than having to rely on the US.
Regarding the EU’s pandemic strategy and preparedness for future threats, the ECFR’s Anthony Dworkin believes European leaders should focus on decreasing disparities between richer and poorer nations regarding vaccine stocks. He also argued that this can be done in several ways, including by requiring leaders across the bloc to offer a percentage of their future vaccine deliveries to their neighboring countries and to Africa.
Europe should invest in building up vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa and other developing countries and support the creation of a better system than the WHO, which the members of the EU could opt into by signing a new pandemic treaty.
