Nearly 40% of Europeans Believe EU Played Negative Role in Ukraine Conflict - Poll

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - As many as 37% of Europeans believe that the European Union has played a negative role in the Ukraine conflict, a survey by pollsters YouGov and Datapraxis for the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) showed on Wednesday.

The survey was carried out online and polled 17,000 citizens of Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden from January 2-19.

Only 29% of respondents said the EU has played a positive role in the Ukraine conflict, while 37% see the union as having played a negative role, and 34% said the EU's role has been neither positive nor negative or they have no opinion on the issue.

Hungary and Greece (48%), Austria (45%) and Spain (42%) have the highest number of people who believe that the EU has played a negative role in the Ukraine conflict, while Sweden (41%), Portugal (39%) and the Netherlands (36%) have the highest share of people who said the EU's role in the conflict has been positive.

When asked whether people from Ukraine are more of a threat or an opportunity, 23% of respondents said they were a threat, 28% saw them as an opportunity and 36% considered them neither of these.

Moreover, Ukrainians are seen as the biggest threat by their closest neighbors — Poland (40%), Hungary (37%) and Romania (35%), the survey showed.

When asked what respondents prefer the EU to do if a new US president limits its support for Ukraine, 33% of them said Europe should follow Washington in limiting its support and encourage a peace deal, while only 20% said the EU should increase its support and replace the previous US aid to the maximum possible extent.