Benefits of Romania's EU membership felt differently by the population

Romanians remain largely pro-European, but the benefits of integration are not equally felt by all citizens. According to the survey conducted by INSCOP Research in December 2024, commissioned by Funky Citizens, almost three-quarters of Romanians (72.5%) believe that joining the European Union has rather brought benefits, a significant jump from 54.9% in January 2022. However, a closer look at socio-demographic data shows that adherence to the European project is not shared by all, with perceptions varying significantly according to social status and place of residence. For example, people with higher education, residents of Bucharest and white-collar workers appreciate the advantages of EU membership more than the rest of the population, probably because of the economic opportunities they have been able to access more easily. In contrast, rural dwellers, the less educated and blue-collar workers tend to see more disadvantages of EU membership. These differences suggest that the benefits of European integration have not been evenly distributed at the national level, highlighting the need for public policies to reduce disparities, for example policies to give rural localities greater access to EU funding opportunities.

Methodology: the survey conducted by INSCOP Reasearch commissioned by Funky Citizens was collected between 16 and 23 December 2024 using the CATI method (telephone interviews), the stratified multistage sample volume was 1000 persons, representative by significant socio-demographic categories (gender, age, occupation) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 years and over. The maximum permissible error of the data is ± 3.1%, at a 95% confidence level. Comparative data for June, September 2021 and January 2022 respectively were extracted from the study "Public distrust: West vs. East, the rise of the nationalist current in the era of misinformation and fake news phenomenon" conducted by INSCOP Research commissioned by the think-tank STRATEGIC Thinking Group within the framework of a research project supported by The German Marshal Fund of the United States - and funded by the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation through the True Story Project.