BRUSSELS – According to the newest Standard Eurobarometer, which was published last week, 53% of citizens of the European Union support “enlargement of the EU to include other countries in future years”, while 40% oppose it.
The results remain almost unchanged compared to the previous Standard Eurobarometer, which was conducted in October and November 2025. The latest survey was conducted in March and April 2026.
Support for enlargement is generally high in the Scandinavian and the Baltic Member States. There is also significant support in Spain, where 71% of citizens support EU enlargement, and only 19% oppose it.
There are also strong majorities in support of enlargement in Poland (62-31), Italy (58-37), Romania (64-30), Slovakia (63-32), Slovenia (62-34), Croatia (67-26) and Hungary (58-37).
In the Netherlands, 51% of citizens support enlargement and 44% opose it, while in Belgium, there is a near tie, with 48% support and 49% opposing.
Meanwhile, the majority of citizens oppose enlargement in the two biggest countries of the EU, Germany and France. In Germany, 43% of citizens support enlargement, a slight increase compared to Autumn last year, while 53% oppose it. In France, the support for enlargement is the lowest in the EU, with only 35% of citizens in favour and 54% against.
Opposition to enlargement is also pronounced in Austria (38-57) and Czechia (39-54).
