Historically, the automotive sector has been a leading industry in Europe and has contributed significantly to economic growth and prosperity. However, to push forward its green transition, the EU now mandates that from 2035 all cars sold in the EU must be zero-emission vehicles.
Such legislative requirements have accelerated global competition across the electric car industry. In response, the Chinese government is granting substantial subsidies to their own national manufacturers. These actions by China led Ursula von der Leyen to announce the launch of an anti-subsidies investigation against China in her State of the Union address, in order to maintain ‘fair competition’.
Drawing upon Eurobarometer data we are able to gain an insight into the sentiments of EU citizens on this complex issue.
Eurobarometer findings show that 85% of EU citizens think that it is important that the EU takes action to improve energy efficiency by 2030[1] - for example, by encouraging people to insulate their home, install solar panels or buy electric cars. This sentiment is felt most strongly in Portugal, Malta and Cyprus (97% in all three countries), and the least so in Czechia (68%), Estonia (70%) and Romania (71%). Nevertheless, the majority of respondents in these latter countries still believe this to be important.
Moreover, 78% of EU citizens agree that more public financial support should be given to the transition to clean energies, even if it means subsidies to fossil fuel producers should be reduced. Yet again, the strongest supporter of this are Malta (91%), Cyprus (90%), and Portugal (89%), with those countries demonstrating the least support including Czechia (57%), Estonia (58%), Latvia and Romania (both at 63%). Despite this opinion being less widespread in the latter countries, a majority of respondents in all Member States are in favour of more public financial funding to support the transition to clean energies and improved efficiency.
Von der Leyen’s comments regarding China’s financial incentives for their own national vehicle manufacturers, highlight her concerns regarding the impact this will have on the EU’s competitiveness in the global market. And whilst there may be concerns around competitiveness in this space, the Eurobarometer data tells us that 75% of EU citizens believe that taking action on climate change will lead to innovation that will make EU companies ultimately more competitive. This belief is held by a majority of respondents in all Member States, however most strongly in Malta (89%), Cyprus (88%), Italy and Greece (both at 87%). Those citizens least convinced that taking action on climate change would make the EU more competitive, are from Estonia (51%), Czechia (53%) and Latvia (56%).
Although Eurobarometer data seems to show the presence of a generally positive consensus among EU citizens regarding the green transition, it is more heterogeneous regarding the reduction of importation of fossil fuels. When asked whether they thought that reducing fossil fuel imports from outside the EU can increase energy security and benefit the EU economically, 70% of EU citizens still agreed with this statement. However, there is a relatively large deficit between the Member States who agree and those who disagree with this statement. Those with the largest proportion in agreement were Italy (85%), Portugal (84%) and Malta (83%). At the other end of scale, less than 6 in 10’ agreed in Estonia (46%), Czechia (49%), Latvia (55%), and Romania (57%).
Such varying attitudes on this issue is likely due to the existing mixed profile of the type of source of energy supplies that different Members States across the EU rely on currently.
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