Do citizens with a lower level of political representation evaluate political actors more negatively? While the literature has documented inequalities in political representation, less attention has been given to the extent to which different levels of representation affect citizens' levels of political trust. We aimed to fill this gap by analysing whether Belgian citizens with a lower level of policy opinion congruence with their party's legislators have lower levels of trust in the parliament. Our results show that policy opinion congruence has a positive impact on citizens' political attitudes. Indeed, citizens with policy preferences closer to those of their political representatives tend to have higher levels of trust in the parliament. This relationship depends on political sophistication: policy opinion congruence affects political trust for most citizens except those who consider themselves to be 'very interested' in politics. Citizens with a very high level of interest in politics trust the parliament regardless of policy opinion congruence with their party's legislators.
As early as March 2020, the President of the European Parliament decided to shut down the assembly’s facilities in Brussels and to cancel the plenary sessions in Strasbourg . Important decisions were made to abandon in-person meetings, introduce teleworking for all staff, and implement remote deliberation and voting both in committees and in the plenary . The Rules of Procedure were adapted to formalize these organisational changes and make them ready for future crises . All in all, the European Parliament proved to be resilient and adaptive: it continued to discuss and adopt many legislative, budgetary, and non-legislative texts in the plenary . However, remote-work did have an impact on the political dynamics within Parliament . It was characterised by a very high level of consensus, as the result of a higher level of agreement between the two main party groups, the European People’s Party and the Socialists & Democrats . Those main groups also became much more cohesive .
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