Three quarters of the EU population (74 percent) approve of the European Union’s support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion. In Austria, the proportion of supporters is 60 percent below the EU average, according to a Eurobarometer survey commissioned by the European Parliament and presented on Wednesday. The EU sanctions against Russia are approved by 73 percent of respondents across the EU, in Austria only 57 percent.
Support for Ukraine is particularly popular in Sweden (97 percent), Finland (95 percent), the Netherlands (93 percent), Portugal (92 percent) and Denmark (92 percent). Bringing up the rear in terms of support for Ukraine are Greece (46 percent), Slovakia (47 percent) and Cyprus (48 percent).
Tail light for EU membership
Austria brings up the rear when it comes to the question of whether its own country has benefited from EU membership. 55 percent of Austrians see a benefit in the EU, 38 percent see none. On average across the EU, 72 percent of respondents said their country had benefited from EU membership. The benefits of the EU are perceived particularly strongly in Malta (95 percent), Ireland (92 percent) and in Luxembourg and Lithuania (91 percent each).
Among the values that respondents think the European Parliament should defend as a matter of priority, democracy comes first (36%), followed by the protection of human rights in the EU and globally (29%) and freedom of speech and thought (28%). ). The consequences of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine are clearly felt by the citizens of the EU. Almost two thirds of the EU population (65 percent) believe that their lives will change because of the war and its aftermath. That is four percentage points more than in April and May.
The survey was conducted from October 12th to November 7th in all 27 Member States by the polling institute Kantar. A total of 26,443 interviews were conducted.