On the eve of the attack on Ukraine, the think tank ECFR examined the mood in the EU: Those who saw Russia as a threat at the beginning of February considered European sovereignty to be particularly desirable.
It is still uncertain how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will affect the attitude of EU citizens towards European integration and its neighborhood – the shock of the Russian invasion is too fresh for Europeans to feel. But a study by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) published on Wednesday, which “Die Presse” was able to see in advance, allows some conclusions to be drawn as to the direction in which the European political journey is likely to go.
For their survey, the ECFR experts spoke to around 15,000 people in twelve EU member states at the end of January/beginning of February: Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. One of the basic findings of the survey: EU citizens are increasingly relying on the European Union’s ability to act on the world stage.
In nine of the twelve countries selected, a relative majority was of the opinion that European sovereignty was to be welcomed (see chart). Only in France, which has traditionally acted independently, and in the euro crisis countries Greece and Italy, which were shaped by austerity policies, was the majority skeptical of a sovereign EU.