Trust in the EU is at its highest level in 17 years – study

51% of Europeans tend to trust the EU, the highest result since 2007, a new Eurobarometer study has found. Research shows that trust is highest among the young people aged 15-24 (59%).

Almost three quarters of respondents (74%) say they feel citizens of the EU, the highest level in more than two decades. In addition, more than six in ten EU citizens (61%) are also optimistic about the future of the EU. Nearly seven in ten respondents (69%) agree that the EU has sufficient power and tools to defend the economic interests of Europe in the global economy. Similarly, 69% agree that the European Union is a place of stability in a troubled world.

At the same time, 44% of EU citizens continue to have a positive image of the EU, while 38% have a neutral image and 17% have a negative image of the EU.

Positive trends also registered in most of the enlargement countries surveyed. The majority of citizens tend to trust the EU*, in Albania (81%), Montenegro (75%), Kosovo (70%), Georgia (58%), North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (56% each), and Moldova (52%). In Türkiye 42% (four percentage points more compared to the previous survey) tend to trust the EU and in Serbia 38% (+2 percentage points). 38% of United Kingdom respondents (+6 percentage points) also share this view.