Europeans prefer greater independence from the US

Gütersloh, November 20, 2024. The majority of European citizens believe that Europe should go its own way in the current geopolitical landscape. The Bertelsmann Stiftung's eupinions survey in all 27 EU member states and the US shows that Europeans had already internalized the political consequences of global developments for their continent before Donald Trump's re-election. Sixty-three percent believe that it is time for the European Union to go its own way, compared to only 25 percent in 2017.

"This significant shift in public opinion reaffirms that European leaders need to do more for European security. This applies above all to greater engagement in NATO, whose security guarantee is of great importance to Europeans," says Isabell Hoffmann, co-author of the study and Europe expert at the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

Here are the key results of the eupinions survey:

• EU citizens want the European Union to play a more active role in world affairs.
  • 73 percent would like the EU to take on more responsibility internationally. A much smaller majority of Americans (56 percent) want the same for the US.

• People in both Europe and the US see NATO as a cornerstone of their security.
  • 64 percent of Europeans and 59 percent of Americans believe that NATO protects them.

• For Europeans, peace is particularly important, for Americans it is civil rights.
  • Europeans choose "securing peace" (20 percent) as the most important task for the EU, while Americans see "protecting civil liberties" (23 percent) as the biggest challenge for the US in the coming years.
  • In second place on both sides of the Atlantic is the "management of migration" (EU 15 percent and US 16 percent).

• The commitment to the transatlantic partnership is also a question of age.
  • On both sides of the Atlantic, the partnership is considered more important among the older segments of the population. In contrast, younger people (18-35 years old) seem to have little attachment to the transatlantic partnership: only 38 percent of young Europeans and 34 percent of young Americans see the other as their most important ally.
  • By comparison, in the group those 55 and older, the figure is 63 percent of Europeans and 59 percent of Americans.

eupinions is a European opinion research tool developed by the Bertelsmann Stiftung. The survey for this analysis was conducted in September 2024 in all 27 EU member states and the US with a total of 29,000 participants.