Europe’s leaders must stem falling trust
by Juan
Menéndez-Valdés on 20th May 2020 @JuanMenendezEF
A mass online survey across the continent has found
Europeans reeling from the coronavirus crisis—and losing trust in their leaders’
ability to manage it.
Juan
Menendez-Valdes
The impact of Covid-19 continues to create chaos in
people’s lives across Europe and the world. The economy is heading towards
another major dip and a general insecurity pervades. The daunting challenges confronting
health services and the anticipated long-term impacts of the crisis dominate
the public sphere—and with good reason.
But how is the pandemic actually affecting us all? How
are Europe’s citizens experiencing this crisis, beyond the drama of illness and
death and the anxiety about the economy? Using a short online questionnaire,
Eurofound has collected the experiences of more than 60,000 citizens across all
European Union member states, weighting their replies to reflect the structure
of the EU population.
The results show a
Europe grappling to respond to the crisis, with many respondents reporting
reduced wellbeing and optimism, growing insecurity and increasing financial
difficulties, coupled with job loss and a dramatic decrease in working time.
It’s a stark picture of stress and distress across the EU. But subtle
transformations also emerge among the striking and shocking statistics.
The daily hike in unemployment is evident—and 6 per
cent of our respondents have lost their jobs as a consequence of this crisis.
But the survey highlights its much wider ramifications for the labour market:
some 23 per cent report having lost contracts or jobs temporarily
and 50 per cent say they are working reduced hours.
Telework has protected some from the worst possible
eventualities and ICT-enabled working has allowed many to cope much better than
they would have imagined. Of the respondents, 37 per cent report having started
to telework as a response to this crisis, compared with around 17 per cent who
did so at least occasionally before. This suggests a durable shift.
But the toll this enforced homeworking can take should
not be underestimated. Traditional shortcomings are becoming more evident, with
work-life balance issues ratcheting upwards and one in five (22 per cent) who
live with children under age 12 reporting difficulties in concentrating on
their job, compared with just 5 per cent of households with no children and 7
per cent with children aged 12-17. The shift towards working from home is
further eroding the ever-thinning boundary between work and home, exacerbating
tensions around the ‘right to disconnect’.
Not all sectors or indeed occupations are suitable for
this form of work. Nor are the situations of some individuals conducive—for
whom such difficulties as housing quality, extra caring responsibilities or
lack of a support network rule it out. Furthermore, not all workers, companies
or regions can rely on the availability of appropriate equipment and
infrastructure.
Particularly severe
The pandemic has hit households’ financial security:
38 per cent of respondents report that their financial situation has
deteriorated and over half (56 per cent) say their savings are not sufficient
to cover their needs beyond three months. This is particularly severe for
self-employed and unemployed workers, who report much higher arrears than
average on mortgage payments, rent and utility bills.
The implications are intensely personal and immediate.
Average life satisfaction has dropped to 6.3 points (on a scale of 1 to 10)
from 7.0 in 2016, when it was measured by Eurofound’s European Quality of Life
Survey (EQLS). Happiness has fallen from 7.4 to 6.4 points. Optimism is also
declining, while mental wellbeing has taken a sharp shock and is alarmingly low
in some countries, such as France and Italy.
As in previous crises, young people are more affected
in some areas: 20 per cent report having lost their jobs as a consequence of
the crisis, compared with 6 per cent of all respondents. One in five reports
feeling lonely, compared with just one in 20 when youth were surveyed in 2016
by the EQLS. Their psychological health is suffering too: they score lower on
mental wellbeing than other age groups, and more report feeling downhearted and
depressed.
Trust decline
Governments and institutions have raced to adapt and
to assist the economy and the most vulnerable in different ways. The EU has
been at pains to try to arrive at a coherent, co-ordinated response and
follow-up plan of action. But trust is at a premium.
Unsurprisingly, respondents report highest trust in
those on the front line of the crisis, such as healthcare services and the
police. In contrast, trust in national governments and the EU appears to have
declined—to 4.8 and 4.6, respectively, on a 1-10 scale—following a boost to
trust in the aftermath of the recovery from the economic crisis. Trust in the
media is equally low.
These figures should be of particular concern to the
EU. Lower trust in the union than in national governments is unusual and
probably unjustified in many ways. Large-scale, unprecedented measures have
been implemented; rapid and far-reaching decisions have been taken in a very
short time. But still, it appears that the EU has been found wanting in some
quarters, perhaps fuelled by the perceived lack of unity among member states,
as well as the slow pace of decision-making by the European Council on a
supranational problem which requires rapid, united action.
Stark impact
Wherever the responsibility truly lies for the
fall-off in trust, the impact on the individual is stark, particularly in some
member states. The situation in France, for example, is of serious concern:
reduced trust is accompanied by particularly low levels of life satisfaction,
happiness, mental wellbeing and optimism, while close to 60 per cent of French
respondents report insufficient savings to manage without an income for three
months. Italy, another founding member of the European Communities, is not much
better. Especially alarming perhaps is the slump in trust among the
traditionally strong supporters of the EU project, such as Spain, which now
appears in the bottom ranks—registering the fourth lowest level of trust, just
above France, Czechia and Greece.
These findings reflect the initial response of
Europeans reeling from yet another economic and existential shock. But the
results are a timely alarm-bell for all of us, as we try to manage the recovery
of a shell-shocked economy and to protect the most vulnerable in our societies.
It is imperative that policy-makers join forces: working together
in the face of a supranational calamity such as this is the only solution.
Europeans are telling us they can accept nothing else.
About Juan Menéndez-Valdés
Juan Menéndez-Valdés is the director of
Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions. Prior to assuming the position in 2010, he was the head of
employment, immigration, education and training policies at the Spanish
Confederation of Employers’ Organisation (CEOE) and programme manager for
guidance and training at the Spanish National Institute for Employment (INEM).
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