Furthermore, three quarters (74%) think their country benefits from EU membership. More than 60% support a more important role for the European Parliament. This view is particularly strong among young people. At the national level, support for a greater EU role ranges from 87% in Sweden to 47% in Romania and 44% in Poland. In the Netherlands, this percentage is 84%.
Nearly three quarters of EU citizens (74%) believe their country has benefited from EU membership. This is the highest result ever recorded in a Eurobarometer survey for this question since it was first asked in 1983.
There is also broad agreement in the Netherlands that the country has benefited from EU membership. 85% indicate that the Netherlands has gained an advantage from this. In the current context, respondents cite the EU’s contribution to maintaining peace and strengthening security (35%) as the main reason why membership is considered beneficial. In the Netherlands, this figure is even 50%.
In addition, there is broad agreement among EU citizens that EU member states must be more united to address current global challenges (89%) and that the EU needs more resources (read: money) to tackle upcoming challenges (76%). This pattern can also be seen in the Netherlands, where 93% of those surveyed say EU countries should be more united and 75% think the EU needs more resources for this purpose.
Defense and security is also mentioned by the Dutch as the most important priority the EU should focus on. In other countries, the greatest preference remains with living conditions, inflation, rising prices, and cost of living, with peak results in Portugal (57%), France (56%), Slovakia (56%), Croatia (54%), and Estonia (54%).
In the Netherlands, some differences are noticeable. For example, 48% also state that defense and security should be a top priority in the European Parliament, while 41% believe that action on climate change should also be on the agenda, followed by migration and asylum policy (33%). This contrasts with older respondents (36% compared to 47% for the 25 to 39 age group and 51% for those over 40 years old).