*While there have been Flash and Special Eurobarometer public opinion data surveys on the topic of COVID-19, we will update The Questions That Matter with the Standard Eurobarometer (Number 93) – to be fielded in June 2020 – in order to be able to compare EU citizens’ responses about the Most Important Problems that will have also included the experience of COVID-19.*

The Questions that Matter the most to European citizens center on the existential threats of terrorism, immigration, and climate change. This is followed by economic anxiety across several indicators of national economic performance and individuals’ economic security.

According to the Eurobarometer 88.3 [November 2017: ZA 6928/ICPSR], the issues that EU citizens rank as the two Most Important Problems facing the EU community include – in descending order of importance – Terrorism (28%) and Immigration (28%), with Climate Change a distant third (8.2%). This is followed up by Member States’ Finances (6.8%), Economic Situation (6.6%), Crime (4.8%), and Unemployment (4.4%).

At the country-level, however, their concerns turn decidedly inward. Unemployment (14.7%), Health and Social Security (13.0%), Rising prices/inflation/cost of living (11.5%), and Economic Situation (9.7%) outrank Immigration (9.0%) and Terrorism (4.5%).