Coronavirus: Europeans deeply disappointed with the EU, Italians believe five times more in China

An overwhelming majority, however, have declared that European Union governments should co-operate more roughly in the face of major threats in the future.

In Italy, one of the most virus-hit countries, 63% of people say that the EU failed its citizens while the pandemic was destroying southern Europe and, asked who had been the biggest ally during the darkest days of the crisis, only 4% of Italians said the EU, while 24% said China, writes The Guardian, translates Periscopi.

The number of those who saw the EU performance as weak (more than half in France) is surpassed by the number of those who think the bloc was “insignificant” during this phase.

The results of this report are seen as disturbing by the authors of this survey.

They said the findings also challenged the belief that the pandemic had fueled support for expanding the role of the state.

Throughout nine EU states, 33% said they had lost confidence in governments' capacity to operate based on pandemic management, and only 29 percent thought that the crisis showed the need for a greater role of state.

Pandemia had also damaged European perception of the United States. /Periscope