The european citizens’ stance on the sustainability subsidies given to the EU farmers

Abstract

The European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has evolved over the years, and climate change mitigation and sustainability were recently added as objectives to the policy. This sustainability policy includes subsidies for farmers. The success of EU policies relies on positive public perception. This study aimed to investigate Europeans' perception of EU sustainability subsidies. This analysis was complemented by evaluating citizens’ attitudes towards agriculture and climate change and socio-economic variables. Overall, EU citizens support CAP and sustainability practices. Our findings reveal that EU citizens strongly in favour of this support tend to be older, more educated, politically left-wing, from higher social classes, residing in smaller communities, and optimistic about the EU's future. Additionally, these citizens hold strong environmental concerns and support innovative practices to benefit sustainable agriculture.