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.
Part of the manufacturing process is pictured at a facility run by AT&S, which develops technologies for industries such as computing, aerospace and automotive, in Leoben, Austria, on Aug. 11, 2026. | Kerstin Joensson/AFP via Getty Images
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.