The willingness of Slovaks to finance green projects and the fight against climate change dropped significantly in 2020, according to surveys carried out by the FOCUS agency for MEP Eugen Jurzyca (Freedom and Solidarity party) at the end of both 2019 and 2020.
While 40.7 percent of the respondents agreed with increasing support for green projects using EU funds, even at the cost of reducing support for other areas, in 2019, only 32.2 percent of those asked agreed with this in 2020, Freedom and Solidarity party spokesman Ondrej Sprlak announced on Tuesday. Meanwhile, support for the distribution of EU funds based on the current priorities grew from 52.1 percent to 59.7 percent.
The proportion of people who are unwilling to pay a single euro more in their monthly energy bills in order to fight climate change rose from 49.2 percent in 2019 to 53 percent in 2020. Less than 26 percent of the respondents would be willing to see their energy bills rise by €2 for this purpose, and only 11.3 percent of respondents could imagine paying €5 extra.
Jurzyca stressed the need to believe in the general scientific consensus that the fight against climate change is essential and that Slovakia must adhere to its international commitments in this regard. "The emphasis on efficiency becomes a total necessity in order to achieve the maximum reduction of greenhouse gases in the air with every euro spent," stressed Jurzyca.
