Majority Finns oppose proposed EU recovery fund: survey

A majority of Finns oppose the recovery fund proposed by the European Commission to repair the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Xinhua quoting a survey conducted by a Finnish language newspaper consortium Uutissuomalainen and published by Finnish language evening tabloid Iltalehti on Wednesday.

The survey found that 52 percent of the respondents were against the idea of a European Union (EU) recovery fund. Only 26 percent supported it, and 22 percent had no opinion on the matter.

Those aged below 30 and above 70 were mostly in favor of the EU proposal, but most of working-age Finns were against it, according to the survey.

The poll also showed that the strongest opposition came from supporters of the right-wing Finns Party, which argues that EU-wide grants and loans could increase Finland's debt burden.

Supporters of the Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP) and the center-right Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) were also less positive about the proposed 750-billion-euro fund, while supporters of the Vihreä Liitto (Green League) and the Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) had a more positive attitude towards the plan.

Antti Ronkainen, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, told Uutissuomalainen that young people have been very positive about the EU and have supported the transfer of decision-making powers to the EU.

Jenni Karimäki, a researcher at the Center for Parliamentary Research at the University of Turku, was quoted by Iltalehti as saying that the survey reflected the Finnish people's healthy criticism of the EU's economic policies.

At the end of May, the European Commission proposed the 750-billion-euro recovery fund. The plan is for the EU to use its strong credit rating to borrow this sum from the financial markets. Some 500 billion euros of this sum would be made available to the EU member states in the form of grants and the rest in loans.