A study by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) shows that Europeans no longer see the US as an ‘ally’, and revealed a broad variety of opinions on the future of the EU.
A majority of Europeans considers the US is a “necessary partner” rather than “an ally”, according to a poll published on Wednesday by the pan-European think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), against the backdrop of friction between the EU and US over tariffs.
This view was shared by half of the respondents to the survey, and a majority of those questioned in countries traditionally close to the US, such as Denmark, Germany and Poland.
“This represents a big change for some countries that used to be strongly transatlantic,” Pawel Zerka, ECFR’s senior policy fellow, said, adding: “But this is understandable because if Donald Trump does no longer present the transatlantic alliance as a true alliance, but as something which needs to be transactional, then we simply accept it.”
According to the analyst, the situation should be regarded as an “opportunity” for Europeans to try to set up a “pragmatic approach to the US rather than an idealistic one
The poll was conducted in 11 EU countries – including Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary – as well as Ukraine, Switzerland, and the UK.
However, it also shows diverging opinion on Trump himself, with more apparent supporters in south-east Europe and detractors in northern and western countries of Europe.
‘Euro-optimists’ vs -pessimists
Almost half (49%) of Hungarians polled thought Trump’s re-election was positive for world peace, with 45% like-minded in Bulgaria and Romania. By contrast, 62% of Danes and 55% of Germans questioned thought he will be “bad” for world peace
The study also showed broad variations in Europeans’ perception of Europe and its role in the world. The largest camp, so-called “euro-optimists”, believe that the EU is a great power and that its collapse is unlikely within the next two decades. They represented 30% of the respondents, with the largest group in Estonia, Denmark, Ukraine, Spain and Portugal. By contrast, 22% of respondents were “euro-pessimists”, believing the EU is not a power and is doomed to collapse.
“Plenty of people doubt whether the EU is a great power who could deal on equal terms with the likes of China or the US. There are many people also across the EU who question the resilience of the bloc and believe that it’s likely that in the next decade or two the EU could fall apart,” Zerka said, adding that “there are several shades of grey” and that those who believe that the EU will fall apart and that it’s not a great power “are actually a minority”.
The overall sample of the study included 18,507 respondents.