This article analyses the determinants of citizens’ trust in the European Commission. We examined four predictors of citizens’ trust in political institutions: political participation, value congruence, performance outcomes and attributability of performance outcomes. We argue that these factors impact trust in the European Commission, which is a necessary precondition for making a risky investment and willingness to pay taxes, which can be understood as behavioural consequences of trust. To examine our hypotheses we have implemented a vignette study. Our analyses show that value congruence, the European Commission’s perceived performance and attributability impact risky investments via trust, as expected. Political participation exerts a direct significant influence on risky investments.