EU citizens favor national products in public procurement

A survey conducted by Public First reveals that citizens in 23 of the 25 surveyed countries prefer public procurement rules that favor locally manufactured products over those produced in other European Union member states.

This sentiment emerges as the European Commission prepares the Industrial Accelerator Act, a legislative proposal intended to bolster European industrial defense against international competition, particularly from China, by providing advantages to EU-produced goods in public contracts. However, the data suggests a preference for national over regional identity; on average, support for national product preference slightly exceeded 50%, while support for a broader European preference remained below that threshold.

Regional variations are significant. Portugal and Spain show the highest support for national preference, with net support exceeding 50%. In contrast, Latvia and Estonia show the lowest levels of support for both national and European preferences. In Germany, the distinction between national and European preference is narrow, with net support for both options remaining below 20%. Luke Shore, director of the think tank Project Tempo, noted that national sentiment tends to prevail over European sentiment across most of the continent.