What are Romanians worried about?

Inflation, plummeting living standards, and corruption are seen by Romanians as the main problems facing the country

Sorin Iordan, 25.09.2023, 13:50

Most Romanians believe the country is heading in
the wrong direction, reveals a survey conducted by the Centre for Urban and
Regional Sociology – CURS, whose findings were made public on Sunday.

According to the survey, this is the opinion
shared by 69% of the people, as against 22% of respondents who said things are
going in the right direction and 9% who could not or would not answer the
question. Also, 41% of the interviewees said things would be worse in a year’s
time, 38% said things would stay the same and 18% said the situation would
improve.

The poll indicates that the main problems facing
Romanians are inflation (19%), the low incomes and
implicitly lower living standards (17%) and corruption (16%). Cross-border
issues such as migration and the war in Ukraine are a concern for only 3% of
the respondents, on a par with those that identify Romania’s political class
and its infrastructure as major problems.

In terms of confidence in national institutions, firefighters rank
first with 73%, followed by the Army (68%) and the Church (63%). NATO is seen
as trustworthy by 42% of the Romanians, while 52% of them have little or no
confidence in the North Atlantic Alliance. Also, only 35% of the respondents
trust the EU, as opposed to 59% who don’t. Politicians and the government are
at the bottom of the confidence ranking. A mere 13% have confidence in the
Presidency and Parliament, and only 10% trust political parties.

The obstacles faced by Romania in its efforts to join the Schengen
area have eaten into its citizens’ optimism. As a result, 60% of the
respondents believe the country will not be admitted this year either in the
visa-free travel area, with only 27% of the people confident that Romania would
join the club in 2023. Austria is blamed by 41% of Romanians for the country’s
failure to join Schengen, while 21% of the citizens blame their own government
and 12% say the responsibility lies with the EU Council.

According to the poll, should parliamentary elections be held next
weekend, half of the Romanians would vote for the 2 parties in today’s ruling
coalition, with 31% of the respondents voting for the Social Democratic Party
and 19% for the National Liberal Party. AUR and USR parties in opposition would
get 18% and 11% of the votes, respectively, while the Democratic Union of
Ethnic Hungarians in Romania would get 5%.

The CURS poll was conducted face to face between September 12 and
22, on a sample of 1,008 respondents and with a 3.1% margin of error. (AMP)