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While EU enlargement is gaining new political momentum, a new poll indicates that more than half of Europeans support the process.
To be precise, 56% of citizens approve of opening up the European project to other countries.
According to a Eurobarometer poll, the most supportive Member States are Sweden (79%), Denmark (75%) and Lithuania (74%). Conversely, Austria (45%), the Czech Republic (43%) and France (43%) are the least receptive.
Young Europeans in particular support enlargement. 67% of 15-24 year olds are in favour, ahead of 25-39 year olds at 63%. Overall the survey indicates that two-thirds of Europeans approve of this opening up.
“The support comes to a large extent from young people and educated people. And that is not very surprising. You know, you it’s it’s the usual suspects who would be understanding and supportive of of such endeavours,” said Corina Stratulat, Associate Director at the European Policy Centre.
“So now the question is how do we get to convince and get on board also the the young, non-educated electorates who go towards the the extreme and therefore would be on the opposing side of enlargement.”
Perceived benefits
37% of respondents believe that enlargement will strengthen the EU’s influence in the world. 37% also believe that it will strengthen the European market.
Finally, 30% of citizens believe that enlargement will lead to greater solidarity between Member States.
But behind this public support, political commitment is needed to move the process forward, Corina Stratulat points out.
“It would be nice if politicians now would ride on that wave of public support in order to be more ambitious and to actually act with regards to welcoming new members into the European Union and doing the necessary preparatory work to be able to accommodate more countries around the decision-making table.”
This issue will be at the heart of the Enlargement Summit organised by Euronews on 4 November. Leaders of candidate countries will have the opportunity to discuss the challenges of this process with EU member state officials.
Perceived concerns
However, enlargement also raises concerns. 40% of citizens mention uncontrolled immigration, 39% point to the risks of corruption and crime, and 37% are concerned about the cost to taxpayers of this opening up.
In order for this political opening to be successful, European citizens believe that enlargement must be accompanied by measures to guarantee the rule of law and the fight against corruption (44%).
They also call on candidate countries to make clear commitments to implement EU reforms (38%). Finally, respondents suggest strengthening the accession criteria to ensure that candidates apply EU standards upon eventual accession.
