WHAT ARE THE CITIZENS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION SAYING: EU countries conducted a survey on whether the war should end even at the cost of territorial concessions to Russia, the results are surprising

Slightly more than half of the surveyed population of Spain believes that the war in Ukraine should end as soon as possible, even at the cost of territorial concessions to Russia. This is the result of a pan-European survey organized by Euroskopia, an association of social research companies.

The result should not be surprising because Spain is physically far from the war in Ukraine, did not depend on Russian energy sources because it has a developed system of LNG terminals, historically had no disputes with Russia, and was affected by the increase in energy prices. The majority, 61 percent of Spain, still believes that it is necessary to continue military support for Kiev. And slightly more than half of the respondents in that country claim that even after the aggression ends, they should not buy Russian gas.

The research was conducted in nine EU member states: Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Greece at the end of December. There were a thousand respondents in each country.

According to the conclusions of the study, which was published by the Spanish agency EFE (Euroskopia did not give us access to the research), the electorate of left parties is more inclined to an early end to the conflict with territorial concessions.

The Russian agency TASS immediately reported that “almost half of Europe wants the conflict in Ukraine to end as soon as possible.” The eternal TASS correctly states at the end of the news that 56 percent of those surveyed support the continuation of arming the government in Kiev.

Euroskopia has come across unsurprising data: 64 percent of Austria wants the war to end as soon as possible, even with territorial concessions. Vienna is historically linked to Russia, Moscow is one of the signatories of the Austrian State Treaty (Österreichischer Staatsvertrag) by which it returned sovereignty with the condition of neutrality, and business ties developed on that basis. Germany is next with 60 percent, which is a consequence of historical and economic ties, but also the pacifism that has developed in that country since the end of World War II. Greece (54 percent) and Italy (50 percent) follow, followed by Portugal (41 percent), Poland (28 percent) and the Netherlands (27 percent). Warsaw has historical reasons to fear Moscow, and The Hague is the loudest advocate of the rule of law, and the international one, which is the Russian president Vladimir Putin cruelly trampled.

If the results are viewed cumulatively, 48 percent of those surveyed want the conflict to end as soon as possible and with Ukrainian concessions, and 32 percent oppose Ukrainian sacrifice of territory for peace.

There is no doubt that the results would have been different if the Baltic and Nordic countries had been included.

The survey confirms previously known views of the public in certain countries, which is a good sign because there are no major changes that could cause internal divisions in the EU with spillover to NATO. Everything was positively affected by the mild winter, which led to a drop in the price of energy products, which, along with the moves of the European Central Bank, led to the easing of inflation.

Governments must continue to be vigilant because we – the EU – have an uncertain year ahead of us. In which, as it seems now, we have to prepare for a possible protracted war in Ukraine.

On January 9, Morning Consult, an information gathering company, published “Monitoring Opinions on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.” According to that report, 44 percent of the American electorate believes that the government should impose sanctions on the export of Russian oil and natural gas even in the event of a risk of rising commodity prices in America: in November, this position was supported by a record low 39 percent.

A potentially bigger problem lies in the fact that only 31 percent of the Republican electorate says the government has a responsibility to protect and defend Ukraine from Russia: a drop of 14 percentage points from last March. In the democratic electorate, 56 percent think so, but there is also a 5 percent drop compared to the beginning of April.

Russia’s global reputation fell due to aggression against Ukraine in almost all countries of the world, including in Brazil, which does not overly condemn Moscow, by 30 percent. In Japan, the reputation of the supposed Eurasian power fell by a record 75 percent.

However, Kyiv cannot be overly satisfied. Although most countries have a positive attitude towards that country, negative sentiment was recorded in France and Germany (in the latter, the former Ukrainian ambassador who insulted it wherever he arrived is largely responsible for it). Even the large and medium powers of Asia are not inclined to Ukraine: the People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. The latter follows the policy of the former, and India and Indonesia believe that war takes two.