The European political elite is in a war fever. With increasingly radical statements, representatives are gradually drawing the EU closer and closer to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. For example, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, recently stated that “we must speed up the immediate supply of arms and ammunition” to Ukraine. She later said that although “Europe has provided nearly EUR 170 billion in military and financial aid so far, more will be needed”. At the end of 2025, Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, said that he would like to see German soldiers marching under the European flag in Ukraine.
The deployment of troops is a red line
EU citizens do not share the elite’s pro-war attitude. Századvég’s latest Project Europe survey shows that 69% of the adult population of the EU rejects the idea of their country sending troops to Ukraine. Only a quarter of respondents agree with the elite.
The only Member State where a relative majority (47%) would send troops to Ukraine is Sweden; everywhere else, those opposed dominate and, with the exception of Finland, are in the absolute majority. The most pro-peace Member States are Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovenia. The percentage of people who oppose sending troops in these countries is as follows: 91%, 85% and 83%.
More and more people oppose arms shipments
51% of EU citizens oppose arms shipments, while 43% support them. The results are surprising given that some Member States have been sending arms to Ukraine for some time, regardless of the expectations of their societies. In fact, in these countries, the elite often use communication campaigns to try to convince people that their position is correct. However, social attitudes have moved in the opposite direction regardless: In 2023, a narrow majority of EU citizens (51%) still agreed with sending arms, but since then support has steadily declined, and the proportions reversed in 2025.
Those who reject arms shipments are in an absolute majority in fourteen Member States and in a relative majority in five. The move is opposed most strongly by Cypriots (79%), Greeks (73%) and Hungarians (75%). In contrast, supporters achieved an absolute majority in nine Member States and a relative majority in two, with the highest proportions in Finland (77%) and Lithuania (69%), and Sweden (59%).
In the first half of 2016, the Századvég Foundation conducted a public opinion survey covering the 28 Member States of the European Union to examine the views of European citizens on the issues that most affect the future of the Union. The Project28 public opinion survey was the most extensive ever, with a unique survey of 1,000 randomly selected adults per country, totalling 28,000. The main objectives of the survey were to gauge public sense of prosperity and to explore public attitudes towards the performance of the European Union, the migration crisis and rising terrorism. Following the surveys of 2017, 2018 and 2019, the Századvég Foundation, on behalf of the Hungarian government, continued the research since 2020 under the name Project Europe, which continued to reflect on the most dominant topics in European political and public discourse. The latest data collection took place between 8 October and 10 December 2025, involving 30,000 respondents in 30 European countries, using the CATI method.
