Is something changing? Preliminary results about the impact of the COVID-19 emergency on the Italians attitudes towards the EU.

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a strong impact on several aspects of private and public life all over the country. This article in particular deals with the impact of the pandemic crisis on attitudes towards the European Union. Based on an opinion survey administered after the COVID-19 first wave to a rep-resentative sample of Italians, this article provides preliminary results on whether the health crisis has impacted Italians’ perceptions of EU membership. Findings suggest that one fifth of the respondents changed their minds about the EU in a relatively short time span. Among possible explanations for this shift, party cueing is shown to be the most important factor in transforming public perception of Eu-rope, while the pattern is less clear for the perception of the pandemic risk and the economic outlook.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• EU attitudes
• Italian politics
• public opinion