Buy European? voters would rather buy national

In an article on the Politico website, Aude Van Den Hove discusses recent poll findings that challenge the push for a European preference in public procurement in the EU’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act.

Brussels wants ‘Buy European’ but voters lean domestic, poll shows

As the EU works on a major industrial policy bill that would give European companies an edge in government contracts, the message from voters in most member countries is that their leaders should spend money on products made locally.

New polling by Public First, shared exclusively with POLITICO, lands as European policymakers fight over how much preferential treatment EU-made clean tech should receive under the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act, which the European Commission wants to be adopted by the end of this year.

The bloc’s executive aims to shape demand for European products by giving them an advantage in public procurement, which accounts for some 17 percent of the EU’s economic output. EU governments have already proposed recasting the Commission’s proposal, linking the European preference to products rather than countries. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has yet to agree on a common position.

The proposal for a European preference, along with investment curbs foreseen under the Industrial Accelerator Act, is intended to shore up Europe’s industrial defenses against China’s export dominance — but the potential costs have struck a discordant note with voters, the poll found.

In 23 of the 25 countries surveyed by Public First, people expressed greater support for public procurement rules that gave an advantage to products made in their own country compared with those made elsewhere in Europe, Luke Shore, managing director at the Project Tempo think tank, told POLITICO.

Support for a domestic preference was slightly above 50 percent on average, while support for a European preference was just below half. However, there were big disparities among EU countries.

Germans have “similar attitudes” when it comes to giving preference to domestic suppliers or those from elsewhere in the EU; net support for both measures was relatively weak at below 20 percent.

Meanwhile, “across most of Europe, the sentiment is nationalistic before it is European, whatever the size of the country’s industrial base,” said Shore, who analyzed the poll findings for POLITICO.

National sentiment

Portugal and Spain are the most supportive of national and EU preferences — with net support of over 50 percent for national origin and just under 50 percent for a broader European definition. Latvia and Estonia show the lowest net support for such rules — at less than 10 percent for Buy European and in the teens for Buy Domestic.

The findings are from EuroPulse, Project Tempo’s survey of 26,283 adults across 24 EU countries and the United Kingdom in May and June. No survey was conducted in EU members Cyprus, Luxembourg, or Malta. Questions focused on the impact of the Middle East war on energy prices, energy security, and the cost of living; price caps and public procurement rules were among the policy options favored most.

While more than half of respondents want Europe to make its own clean tech, even if that ends up slowing the green transition, support for trade protections drops if people are told that higher prices could result.

Support for energy and industrial policies is “cost-contingent,” Shore said. “Faced with a cost-of-living crisis, voters back protectionist policies — but only if they don’t raise prices.” When asked about tariffs on Chinese tech, only 35 percent of respondents supported the idea when told it could lead to price increases.

With its self-imposed year-end deadline for finalizing the IAA looming and the Commission due to present its Public Procurement Act in early September, the polling suggests Brussels faces two political hurdles to selling Buy European: support among voters weakens when it comes with higher prices, and they have a stronger national preference.

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