BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.6. An overwhelming majority of EU citizens agree that the EU should invest in renewable energies (87 percent), reduce its dependency on Russian sources of energy (86 percent) and that gas storage in EU countries should be filled up rapidly to allow uninterrupted gas supply during winter (86 percent), Trend reports with reference to the summer 2022 Standard Eurobarometer survey.
“In addition, 85 percent believe that increasing energy efficiency will make us less dependent from energy producers outside the EU, while 83 percent are in favour of EU Member States jointly buying energy from other countries to get a better price. 78 percent of respondents say that they have recently taken action to reduce their energy consumption or that they plan to do so in the near future,” the survey, published on the European Commission’s website, shows.
The main concerns of Europeans mirror the pessimistic perception of the economy.
Both at a national and EU level, inflation and energy supply experienced sharp increases and rank first and second respectively. When asked about the most important issues facing the EU at the moment, above one third of respondents mention ‘rising prices/inflation/cost of living' (34 percent, +10 pp since February and now in first place) and ‘energy supply' (28 percent, +12 pp and now in second place from seventh previously) along with ‘the international situation' (also 28 percent).
Rising prices/inflation/cost of living is also one of the main concerns at national level for more than half (54 percent, +13 pp), followed by energy supply (22 percent, +11 pp) and the economic situation (20 percent, +1 pp).
The “Summer 2022 – Standard Eurobarometer” (EB 97) was conducted through face-to-face and online interviews between 17 June and 17 July 2022. 26,468 EU citizens have been interviewed across the 27 Member States. I
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