Europeans are divided on whether they see the benefit of the enlargement of the European Union (EU) but also on which countries they want to see as member states, according to a new survey published today by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
Citizens of Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland and Romania largely support Ukraine's entry into the EU, Moldova and Montenegro have somewhat weaker support, but they are not enthusiastic about the admission of most of the countries of the Western Balkans region, Georgia and Turkey.
About 35 percent of respondents asked by ECFR say that Serbia "should not be able to join the EU." The same number of respondents gave that answer when it came to Albania, and 37 percent when it came to Kosovo.
Opinions are more evenly divided regarding the membership of North Macedonia (26 percent for, 27 percent against) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (28 percent for, 29 percent against), while support for Montenegro amounts to 30 percent compared to 25 percent of those who are against.
Turkey's candidacy has a particularly low rating, across Europe, with more than half of the respondents (51 percent) answering that it should not be granted EU membership.
On the other hand, 44 percent of respondents support the accession of Ukraine, while only 27 percent believe that it should not be able to join the EU.
The poll showed the highest support for Ukraine's entry in Denmark (50 percent) and Poland (47 percent), and the opinion was roughly divided in Romania (32 percent for, 29 percent against), in Germany (37 percent for, 39 against ) and France (29 percent for, 35 percent against). In Austria, the majority of 52 percent was against.
However, 45 percent of respondents were worried that joining Ukraine would negatively affect the security of the EU, while 25 percent thought it would improve it, while 39 percent believed that the entry of Kyiv would negatively affect the security of their country.
When asked whether the EU should expand, respondents in Austria (53 percent) and Germany (50 percent) said they did not want to see the EU accept new members.
On the other hand, 51 percent of Romanians and 48 percent of Poles said that EU enlargement should happen.
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