Citizens attitudes toward the EU budget: an overview

There is an ongoing debate over the issue of whether the level of financial redistribution and international solidarity generated via the EU budget is sufficient. While it is important what political decision-makers and other experts think about this policy issue, it seems to be no less important to take into account what EU citizens – in their role as taxpayers funding the EU budget – think about this budget. Hence, this chapter gives an overview of the topic of citizens’ attitudes towards the EU budget. Using cross-national data from the Eurobarometer public opinion polls, this chapter addresses the following three research questions. First, we examine how public attitudes towards the EU budget have developed over time. Second, we analyze whether EU citizens are satisfied with the status quo of the EU budget system. Third, we investigate the cross-national differences in citizens’ attitudes towards the EU budget. The final section draws some conclusions.