Half of EU citizens consider the war in Ukraine the ‘biggest challenge’ – poll

Almost two-thirds of EU citizens are concerned about the security of the European Union, with residents of Portugal being the most concerned about security issues.

Source: the results of a survey conducted on behalf of the European Commission, as reported by European Pravda with reference to DPA.

Details: About 47% of the surveyed EU citizens said they are “quite concerned” about the security of the European Union over the next five years, while another 17% said they are “very concerned”.

According to the results, the residents of Portugal are the most concerned about security (77%). In Germany, 54% of respondents said they were “quite” or “very” concerned about EU security.

As part of a representative survey, the public opinion research institute Ipsos conducted an online survey among more than 25,000 EU citizens aged 15 and older at the end of June – beginning of July.

According to the survey, about 58% of EU citizens are still optimistic about the future of the EU, while about 37% expressed pessimistic sentiments.

About 50% of EU citizens consider the war in Ukraine to be the biggest current challenge for the EU, while 41% of respondents currently consider illegal migration to be the biggest challenge.

Another 35% of respondents also named environmental problems and climate change.

Regarding the issues that the EU should prioritize, respondents most often named the environment and climate change (33%) and illegal migration (also 33%), followed by security and defence (29%) and the war in Ukraine (25%).

Opinions of EU citizens regarding the development of the economy in the EU over the next five years were divided.

About 50% of respondents expressed confidence in the future of the economy, while 45% said they were more sceptical.

As a reminder, in Poland, 70% of respondents consider the current situation in Ukraine a threat to the country’s sovereignty and independence, while 30% called it insignificant or non-existent.

In addition, the vast majority of Ukrainians believe that security agreements with partners in continuation of the Vilnius G7 Declaration are beneficial for Ukraine’s defence capability, but at the same time, they have restrained hopes for them.

pravda.com.ua