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According to a Eurobarometer poll published in January 2023, an overwhelming majority of the EU’s citizens – precisely 74 percent of the respondents – back the European Union’s support for Ukraine and its approach of financial, military, and refugee aid to the country Russia invaded; 73 percent expressed agreement with the sanctions against Russia.
The level of support is not the same in all member states, with Sweden (97%), Finland (95%), the Netherlands (93%), Portugal (92%), and Denmark (92%) having the highest levels of support. The EU countries most affected by the Ukrainian war, Poland and Germany, are among the strong supporters with 73 and 85 percent support respectively.
Bulgaria and Greece (48%), Slovakia (49%), and Cyprus (53%) are at the lower end of support. In the Nordic European region 9 out of 10 people support Europe’s approach to Ukraine, while even in the least supportive Southern and Eastern European around 5 out of 10 support it.
The key question of support for EU action in and for Ukraine is essential at times when individual European countries are in the process of ramping up defense and military aid to fight Russian aggression.
The majority of the 26,000 polled people are aware of the effects of the war on their daily life, including the rising cost of living in the EU and booming energy prices and the potential spill-over of the war to other countries. Two-thirds of the respondents believing their life will change because of the war.
The results also showed that 58 percent of the EU citizens are satisfied with the inter-governmental cooperation between member states in addressing the consequences of the war.
A significant relationship between a country’s rate of inflation and people’s approval of EU support for Ukraine was not found, nor did the country’s unemployment rate affect how likely its citizens were to approve the support. However, the higher a member state's GDP, the higher on average its citizens' support level is.
Moreover, two-thirds of those who had trouble with paying bills in the household still approve of the EU’s politics toward Ukraine and Russian aggression.
The higher a respondent's level of education, the more they considered the EU’s Ukraine politics the right one, with managers (84%), other white-collar workers (76%), and students (79%) showing the highest level of support, while domestic helpers and householders had the lowest level at 63%.
Lastly, 58 percent of EU citizens expressed their contentment concerning the way governments worked together to address the consequences of the war in Ukraine, while close to four out of ten were not happy with it.
In conclusion, European decision-makers emphasize that the results are clear indications that despite the political, social, and economic costs the EU pays for its support of Ukraine, Europeans stand firm behind democracy and are willing to make sacrifices for it.
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