New poll shows significant support for European military cooperation, but low support for democracy.

With the geopolitical landscape changing rapidly since Russia invaded Ukraine and Trump cast a shadow over transatlantic cooperation, the debate around European defence and security has intensified.

To help understand where our fellow citizens stand on this debate, the European Movement International commissioned an opinion poll to measure attitudes on security and defence cooperation. We also looked at the consistency of support for democracy (something we have been tracking since 2019) and attitudes towards the EU and its institutions.

The poll was conducted in June, in 7 member states of the European Union (Germany, France, Poland, Romania, Italy, Spain and Sweden).

Below you can read the Executive Summary. To explore the complete results, download the full report here.

Democracy, international affairs and the EU​

• Only just over a third (36%) of respondents are consistent supporters of democracy, with respondents in Sweden (52%), Germany (42%) and Italy (42%) most likely to fall under this bracket. Those in Spain are least likely to be consistent supporters of democracy (25%).​
• Regarding attitudes towards international affairs, respondents are most likely to agree that their country should be active internationally to protect the national interest and promote peace and prosperity (80%). Nonetheless, two thirds (65%) agree that their country should prioritise the national interest, even if this sometimes conflicts with the interests of other countries. This suggests similarly inconsistent attitudes as seen above towards democracy. ​
• Most respondents claim to be aware and knowledgeable about the EU, with three in five (61%) saying they know at least a fair amount. When broken down intoinstitutions, around half say they are aware of and know at least a fair amount about the European Parliament (51%) and European Commission (46%), but only one in five (22%) say the same for the European Defence Agency (EDA).​
• Awareness of EU political figures tells a similar story. Almost half (49%) say they are aware and know at least a fair amount about Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission), but only just over one in ten (14%) say the same for Kaja Kallas (High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission). Even fewer respondents, less than one in ten (8%), say they are aware and know at least a fair amount about Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius. ​
• Respondents are twice as likely to trust their national government over the EU to make decisions that improve their day-to-day life (41% vs. 19%), though three in ten have equal amounts of trust in both institutions (29%).​
• More than half of respondents say being a member of the EU has had a positive impact on their country as a whole (56%), while just under half say it has had a positive impact on them personally (48%). The most significant positive personal impacts for respondents are access to travel freely (65%) and feeling more safe and secure (52%).

Defence & security​

• Respondents are most likely to associate the term ‘defence and security’ with military forces and operations (62%), counter-terrorism (57%) and international alliances
  (53%). However, less traditional elements of defence and security such as border control and immigration management (53%) and cybersecurity (52%) also score highly.​
• Over half of respondents (52%) think their country should pursue an equal balance of national interest and collaboration within the EU on defence and security, while a third (34%) think their country should pursue its national interest above all else. Respondents who want to see their country pursue greater collaboration within the EU on defence and security are most likely to want to see this through developing common defence and security policies (56%, ranked 1-5), combined efforts to fight terrorism (47%) and working together on military operations and training (45%).​
• When asked about their support for potential EU defence and security initiatives, respondents are most likely to say they support creating shared initiatives to counter disinformation campaigns (66%), as well as improving the EU’s relationship with the US (63%). Support for greater military/defence collaboration is also high, with more than half in support of creating a shared EU plan for member states to work together specifically on the war in Ukraine (56%) and creating a shared European military under common leadership (56%). ​
• Respondents who support creating a shared European military would most like to see this through creating a common EU defence industry (50%), intelligence sharing (50%) and setting up shared military bases (48%). Just under half would like to see the creation of a single European army with fully integrated national forces (46%), while less than a third would like to see EU soldiers sent on join missions abroad (31%). ​
• Respondents who support creating a shared EU plan for the war in Ukraine are more likely to want more diplomatic negotiations for a ceasefire (57%), economic sanctions on Russia (55%) and humanitarian aid (50%), than military action such as providing Ukraine with more advanced and powerful weapons (39%) or sending EU soldiers to fight (13%).

By Emanuel Ferreira – Communications and Campaigns Manager, European Movement International