ZAGREB, August 11, 2019 – The latest findings of the Eurobarometer show that in the European Union, the Croatians have the lowest trust in state institutions.
Only 13% of the Croatians covered by surveys conducted for Spring 2019 Standard Eurobarometer trust the government and the parliament, and the next to the last is Britain, where citizens’ trust in state institutions has been affected by the developments surrounding the Brexit. Only 19% of U.K. citizens place confidence in the country’s authorities.
Throughout the European Union trust in EU remains higher than trust in national governments or parliaments and is at its highest level since 2014.
“Trust in the EU has increased in 20 Member States, with the highest scores in Lithuania (72%), Denmark (68%) and Estonia (60%),” the European Commission has recently reported.
“In addition, over half of the respondents ‘tend to trust’ the EU in Luxembourg (59%), Finland (58%), Portugal (57%), Malta and Sweden (both 56%), Bulgaria and Hungary (both 55%), Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands and Cyprus (all 54%), Romania and Austria (both 52%) and Latvia and Belgium (both 51%).”
When it comes to trust in national governments, the percentage of those who place confidence in local governments is the highest in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the Zagreb-based Večernji List daily has recently said in its comment on the latest Eurobarometer scoreboard.
The daily says that the overwhelming mistrust in Croatia should be ascribed to a high perception of corruption in the country.
When it comes to trust in EU institutions, 46% of those polled in Croatia say they trust them, which is almost three times higher than the percentage of those who trust national authorities.
More news on Croatia and the EU can be found in the Politics section.
