Current affairs play an important role in the issue of EU enlargement, according to the next survey conducted by the company IPSOS for Euronews. In the eyes of European voters, Ukraine has become the favorite candidate to join the Union, surpassing old candidates such as Albania, Serbia and Turkey.
Overall, 45% of respondents support expanding the bloc to include Ukraine, 20% are undecided and 35% oppose it. Meanwhile, as for other countries, 37% support Bosnia, 35% Georgia, 35% Serbia and 34% Albania. The least supported country is Turkey, with 24%.
“For many years, expansion was off the agenda. So it was not part of the main issues that dominated it. This lasted until the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when expansion came back into focus.
Expansion was put back on the table. Leaders and member states alike understood that enlargement was necessary in order to strengthen the Union. And the enlargement narrative met with a positive approach from European citizens”, states Berta López Domènech, political analyst.
Finland, Portugal and Spain are the countries that support Ukraine the most to become a member country. Sweden, Poland, Denmark and Romania also support it with over 50%. The last are Hungary, followed by Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
For Bosnia, the strongest support comes from its neighbors, Romania and Bulgaria; while Georgia’s candidacy is supported by Romania and Spain.
As for Serbia, support comes from Romania and Greece, while Albania is supported by its neighbor Italy, but also Poland. For Turkey, support is below 20 percent.
Overall, Spain and Portugal are the countries most supportive of enlargement, while citizens of France and the Netherlands are the most negative.
“In the case of France and the Netherlands, for example, the low support for enlargement can be explained by the fact that their governments have traditionally been critical of the process and have been reluctant to allow the bloc to expand. We saw this in 2019, when the Netherlands and France blocked the opening of membership negotiations for Albania and North Macedonia. Or, recently, this happened with Bosnia when the Netherlands turned into one of the most critical countries for making such decisions”, emphasized Domènech.
The main political currents of the Union also support enlargement, while the most negative are the extremists of the Identity and Democracy party.
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