A majority of Europeans would oppose following the U.S.' lead if President Donald Trump pushed Ukraine to cede territories or lifted sanctions on Russia as part of a peace agreement, a new poll published on June 23 has found.
Despite the self-imposed deadline of 100 days to end the war in Ukraine, Trump is now 155 days into his presidency and Russian attacks have only escalated.
Trump has still yet to take any concrete steps to pressure Moscow into ending its war but has floated several concessions that Ukraine could be forced to make including ceding territory, while at the same time announcing no new military aid packages for Kyiv.
The survey, conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations, found that even in countries with pro-Russian governments like Hungary, more people opposed the idea than supported it.
Respondents in 12 countries (Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K.) were asked about three scenarios — the U.S. pushing Ukraine to cede territory, lifting sanctions on Russia, and withdrawing all military support.
Majorities in all countries opposed their own governments following the U.S. lead except for Hungary in the case of withdrawing all military support.
Opposition was highest in Denmark, the U.K., Poland, Spain and Portugal, and lowest in Hungary, Romania and Italy.
"A benevolent interpretation is that Europeans support an autonomous European policy to support Ukraine and they don’t want to blindly follow Trump’s lead," the report's authors said.
"But another reading of that data is that Europeans want Ukrainians to continue fighting on their behalf."
The wide-ranging survey also asked about attitudes to increasing defense spending and compulsory military service.
Majorities supported increased defense spending in Poland (70%), Denmark (70%), and the U.K. (57%), with large minorities in Germany (47%), Spain (46%), and France (45%).
When asked about compulsory military service, France (62%), Germany (53%), and Poland (51%) were the strongest supporters but crucially, not in the age bracket most likely to be called up — 18 to 29-year-olds.
Europeans are also becoming increasingly despondent about the U.S. under the leadership of Trump, with large majorities in the U.K. (74%) and Germany (67%) believing the U.S. political system is "broken."
The ECFR poll surveyed 16,440 adults last month.
Anna Fratsyvir
(Updated: )
