Two thirds of Europeans want the European Union to play a more important role in their protection. At national level, 47% of Romanians want this.
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The European Parliament launched on Tuesday, March 25, a new Eurobarometer survey, based on the data collected from all over the EU in the winter of 2025.
“Two -thirds of Europeans want the EU to play a more important role in ensuring their protection. This is a clear call to action we will answer. Europe must be stronger so that our citizens feel safe.
The European Parliament will ensure that each proposal presented in this regard is sufficiently bold and ambitious to correspond to the serious level of threat that Europe faces. Europe has to take attitude today, or risk being given aside tomorrow”, Said Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament.
Two-thirds of Europeans want the EU to take on a more important role to ensure protection
According to the survey, 66% of European citizens want the EU to take on a more important role in protecting them in the face of global crises and risks to security at national level, results for a stronger EU role ranging from 87% in Sweden to 47% in Romania and 44% in Poland.
Also, 74% of Europeans believe that their country has benefited from belonging to the EU, the highest percentage in a Eurobarometer survey.
At national level, 70% of Romanians believe that Romania has benefited from belonging to the EU.
The EU contribution to maintaining peace and consolidating security is the main reason why the membership is considered beneficial when we analyze the answers at European level (35%). Respondents in Romania believe that belonging to the EU is first and foremost for new employment opportunities (42%).
89% of European citizens (75% of Romanians) participants in the poll say that EU Member States should be more united to meet current global challenges. In this context, 76% of Europeans (71% of Romanian respondents) believe that the European Union needs more means to meet future challenges.
Romanians believe that the EU should prioritize the agro-food sector
In a rapidly changing geopolitical environment, defense and security (36%), as well as competitiveness, economy and industry (32%) are identified by European citizens as the areas on which the EU should most focus on strengthening their position in the world.
In the case of Romania, citizens believe that the EU should focus on consolidating their position globally are food security and agriculture (32%), defense and security (31%), followed by competitiveness, economy and industry (29%) and energy independence, resources and infrastructure (26%).
Economic and security aspects are also in the fore Four out of ten Europeans mention among priorities inflation, prices and life cost (43%), followed by EU (31%), combating poverty and social exclusion (31%) and supporting the economy and creating new jobs (29%).
Inflation, price increase and life cost is a main priority for all age groups, with maximum results in Portugal (57%), France (56%), Slovakia (56%), Croatia (54%) and Estonia (54%).
Also, Romanians believe that on the agenda should have topics such as inflation, pricing and life cost (44%), supporting the economy and creating new jobs (38%) and combating poverty and social exclusion (30%).
Romanians want to defend values such as peace and freedom of movement
Ask what values they would like to defend, Europeans have replied that they should defend values such as peace (45%), democracy (32%) and human rights protection in the EU and worldwide (22%).
Romanian citizens would like the European Parliament to defend values such as peace (30%), freedom of movement (26%) and democracy (25%).
Half of Europeans have a positive image of the EU
50% of European respondents have a positive image about the EU (51% of Romanians). In the last decade, this positive perception was only once higher (52%), in the spring of 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The positive image A on is stable at a high level (41% at European level, 47% of Romanian respondents).
A few months after the start of the mandate of the new legislature, over six out of ten European citizens (62%) would like the European Parliament to play a more important role. Of the Romanian respondents, 58% would like the European Parliament to play a more important role, with five percentage points more than before the European elections.
