EU citizens favor peace over punishing Russia – poll
A survey shows that people want Ukraine’s conflict to be over, even if Kiev makes concessions.
On Wednesday, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), warned that momentum in Europe’s unifying effort to help Ukraine defeat Russia and punish Moscow for its aggression is under threat.
Based on an opinion survey, it found that a growing number of people desire to end the conflict. Many people are worried about what European nations would have to do to keep the peace, even if they want Russia to win. “justice”Ukraine
In mid-May, the poll was taken in 10 European countries. Based on their expectations of the outcome from Ukraine’s crisis, researchers divided respondents into four categories.
The members of the “peace”The 35% who are part of camp wanted it to end as soon as they could. It is the “justice”At 22% camp, Russia is the priority over all else. The “swing voters”20% represents those who are determined to exact retribution and yet remain cautious of the potential risks and cost. The remainder 23% were merged into “rest” category.
The ECFR advised that Europe’s conflict fatigue will increase and Europeans feel the negative effects of higher energy and food costs. This was a warning from their governments as well as the media who attributed the Ukrainian crisis to rising prices. “peace”Europe will see more divisions as a result of the expansion of camp. The European leaders were urged to focus on the “swing voters”Your concern addressed with messages
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“The key to maintaining European unity in support of Ukraine is to take the fears of escalation seriously and to present the conflict as a defensive struggle against Russian aggression rather than talking about Ukrainian victory and defeating Russia,”The authors assert.
Survey results showed that the prevalence of this disease was high. “peace”All countries except Poland were surveyed for camp, “justice”Camp was the dominant position. At 52%, those calling for peace in Italy were the strongest.
The British are the “peace”And “justice”Camps were almost equal (22% and 21% respectively), “swing” voters hit 32%. They were the largest minority in the country.
The poll revealed that most Europeans believe Russia is the biggest obstacle to peace and blame it for the Ukrainian crisis. In all three camps there’s strong support for helping Ukraine, from providing aid to offering NATO and EU memberships.
One exception: “peace”Camp that opposes establishing a nofly zone above Ukraine, stationing additional NATO troops in Eastern Europe or allowing Kiev to join the alliance. Their opposition to increasing their defense spending is strong as well.
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Researchers found that some countries in the vicinity may have different attitudes to militarization. Polish citizens strongly support the expansion of their military (52%) vs. 21 percent against, while Romanians are 31% to 36% in favor. Similar results were seen in Germany and Italy where 41% to 32%, 14% and 63% respectively.
According to the report, in this instance “geography was not destiny,”Contrary to what is commonly believed. The authors point out that Ukraine’s crisis may still prove to be the. “midwife of a much more muscular EU,”But they acknowledge that militarization may not be as well-received by the European public than their governments claim.
Most respondents believe that Russia will lose more than Ukraine after the conflict. But this is not true of all the participants. “justice”More people believed that Russia would suffer the greatest damage than camp. All of the groups expected that the EU would also be affected. Europeans expect that China and the US will not be hurt, as only a fifth of people surveyed believe they will.
The poll found that the most worrying concerns for Europeans include the increasing cost of living, and the potential use by Russia to attack Ukraine with nuclear weapons. In the poll’s view, Ukrainian refugees were the least concerning option. Even Poles, who refused to receive its fair share of migrants from the Middle East during 2015’s migrant crisis in migration, strongly supported the admission of refugees.
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