Disillusioned
but dependent: new poll shows Europeans doubt EU’s future yet still seek its
protection
By Gaia Neiman,
Brussels
, 9
September 2026 06:00
A
new study has
found most Europeans are disillusioned about the future of the continent.
Co-published
with the European Cultural
Foundation, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) survey published on Wednesday (9 September)
reveals a general lack of confidence in Europe’s future, providing fertile
ground for far-right narratives of a weakened EU.
Almost
three-quarters of those interviewed said Europe is coping badly with its
greatest challenges – which most considered to be war and security, as well as
economic pressures.
Respondents
worried that Europe’s future is in danger, with 68 percent expressing a feeling
of a general deterioration of the EU.
The
ECFR’s survey found Europe to have become a more politically-salient topic,
making ‘Brussels’ one of the bloc’s main electoral battlegrounds.
Eurosceptics
keep criticism high amongst the far-right voter base in France,
Poland, Italy and beyond, with Alice Weidel, co-leader of AfD, promising to
take Germany out of the eurozone and the Schengen area.
“It’s
increasingly harder to talk about things like cost-of-living, climate policy or
migration without this becoming a discussion about Europe,” report author Paweł
Zerka told EUobserver.
Zerka,
the ECFR’s senior policy fellow, also warned that most mainstream leaders
“usually struggle to find the right
language to talk about Europe,” since there is no longer a real
polarisation between pro-European voters and eurosceptics.
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