Europeans are more in favor of a peace agreement that ends the Ukrainian War even with concessions from Kiev than seeking punishment for Russia’s aggression at any cost. They are also against the increase in military spending due to the crisis and put the fear of inflation at the top of their concerns.
These are some of the findings of a new survey, carried out with 8,000 people in ten countries that concentrate 54% of the continent’s population. It was released on Wednesday (15) by the European Council on Foreign Relations, a multinational center founded in 2007, and has a margin of error of more or less three to four points.
The survey suggests what German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called European fatigue with the conflict started on February 24 by Vladimir Putin. Speaking to the World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “our mission is not to let the world tire of war”.
It’s not working out very well. While everyone said they were in favor of ending the conflict, 35% said they would prefer this to happen even if Ukraine has to give in. The center called this group a “peace camp.”
Already 22% say they want Putin footing the bill for the war. It is called the “field of justice”. Another 20% are considered fickle in their opinion and 23% either don’t care or have no opinion – a very expressive number given the impact of the war on everyday life.
It can be measured in the main fear registered in the countries with the war: that there will be an increase in the cost of living due to the already increased prices of energy and food, inputs subject to sanctions against Russian imports and blocking of outlets from Ukraine, respectively.
According to the poll, 61% of Europeans fear this, a number equal to a renewed threat that the war has brought: that Russia will use nuclear weapons in the conflict. Already the fear that Putin invades its territory amounts to 42%.
Also complain that their governments pay more attention to war than to internal problems 42% of ears, compared to 36% who see adequate attention.
The basket of countries in which the survey was carried out in May helps to understand the divisions. First, there is the group of central and populous nations: Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy. Then, two countries usually distant from the Russian question, Portugal and Spain.
In addition to them, two frontline nations in Eastern Europe, Poland and Romania, and two candidates to join NATO (Western military alliance) due to the war, Finland and Sweden.
As would be expected, warmongering Poland has a more aggressive attitude towards Moscow. It has the biggest “field of justice”, 41%, while only 16% postulate peace at any price. There, too, there is the strongest support for an increase in military spending to dissuade Putin from acting against him: 52% are in favor, while 21% are against.
Overall, the Europeans are divided with a technical tie at the limit of the margin of error: 38% against and 32% in favor of more weapons. The Swedes follow the Poles, with 50% pro-spend.
The perception that Germany, whose government has tried its best to postpone the embargo on Russian oil imports and which has so far managed to avoid the measure against its rival’s gas, is a nation of appeasement is not so correct.
It is true that 49% of Germans are “for peace”, according to the survey, but 41% support the R$530 billion in extra military spending already announced. They also believe that the priority should be to reduce Moscow’s energy dependence (52%, compared to a total of 58% overall), to the detriment of prioritizing the search for renewable energy (30%) — this in a country associated with environmentalism.
They come out as continental “hawks”, in addition to the Poles but not so much the Romanians, the Italians. It is in Italy that the largest group of the “peace camp” is found (52%), the greatest rejection of military spending due to the war (63%) and one of the main criticisms of the government’s excessive attention to the subject (48% ) —curiously, in this last item the main complaint is from the eastern countries (Romania, 58%, and Poland, 52%).
