A recent poll by IPSOS/Euronews showed that Ukraine is the country that European Union’s citizens are more backing for accession to the block, even though enlargement is not one of the priorities of EU citizens ahead of June EU elections.
Around 45% of people around the EU support Ukraine join the bloc, more than any other perspective candidate. Ukraine leapfrogged countries in Western Balkans and the Caucasus region in preference from citizens. The second most supported country for membership is Bosnia-Herzegovina with 37% of EU citizens backing their bid.
Remarkably, Ukraine presented its application bid following Russian invasion in February 2022 and the EU approved it and started negotiation talks in record time. Also, neighbouring Moldova had a similar fast-tracked path towards membership.
On a country-by-country basis, Finland, Portugal and Spain are the three countries whose voters were more enthusiastically supporting Ukraine’s bid, with 68% of people in favour. Other Nordic countries like Denmark and Sweden, plus neighbours like Poland and Romania also had overwhelming support for Ukraine.
On the other side of the spectrum, Hungary recorded the lowest approval for Ukraine joining the EU, with only 18% of voters in favour. Slovakia and the Czech Republic also had low approval rating for the prospect. Hungary and Slovakia are currently the most hostile countries to Ukraine in the EU, with both governments routinely speaking up against sending aid. Surprisingly, also France has a low approval for enlargement to Ukraine with only 32% of voters in favour, despite President Emmanuel Macron strong support during the war.
Despite this relative support for Ukraine, enlargement as a whole is not even among the top 10 priorities of EU voters. Only Ukraine is more or less supported in its EU bid, with other perspective members all polling much lower in approval. In general, people don’t seem to support enlargement as a way to bring stability of the continent.
