ATHENS — Seventy-nine pct of Greek citizens want a greater future role for the European Parliament, while 72 pct believe that the EU Recovery Plan will allow the Greek economy to recover faster from the negative effects of the pandemic, according to the latest European Parliament survey on Europe released on Friday (Eurobarometer-PARLEMETER 2020).

Specifically, eight out of 10 Greeks said they want the European Parliament to play a more important role in the future, while 65 pct believe that solidarity between EU member states is the overriding value that the European Parliament must defend.

Also, 65 pct of Greeks said that the country has benefited from EU membership (five percentage points above June 2019).

"Against the backdrop of the ongoing pandemic, citizens remain pessimistic," the statement said, as 56 pct of respondents in Greece believe the country's economic situation will be worse in a year's time, with the corresponding figure among all 27 European member-states being just 3 points lower (53 pct). One in four Greeks (25 pct) and one in five Europeans (21 pct) have the opposite view, ie that the economic situation will be better. Nineteen pct of Greeks believe that it will remain the same, with the corresponding percentage of Europeans amounting to 23 pct on average.

The rates in Greece and Europe remain almost the same for those who expect an improvement in their personal situation, with 25 pct of Greeks and 21 pct of Europeans believing that this will be improved in a year. Respectively, 40 pct of Greeks believe that their situation will be worse in a year, with the European average amounting to 24 pct. Thirty-five pct of Greeks and 52 pct of Europeans believe that their personal situation will remain the same.

According to an announcement, "it is worth noting that the survey records an increase of 10 percentage points in the number of citizens who expressed a positive view of the EU (50 pct) compared to the autumn of 2019. This percentage (50 pct) was last recorded in 2007."