Solidarity across the European Union remains remarkably stable despite years of overlapping crises, from the pandemic to the war in Ukraine. There has, however, been a historic shift: for the first time, a significant number of Europeans view the United States as a potential security threat. The findings come from the European University Institute's annual survey of the project Solidarity in Europe (SiE), done in partnership with YouGov, which interviewed nearly 30,000 Europeans. The 2025 edition represents the most extensive snapshot yet of European public opinion, covering 22 EU member states from Ireland to Romania, Portugal to Finland.
Despite facing what some scholars have called a "polycrisis" – simultaneous challenges including COVID-19, Russian aggression, energy shortages, and rampant inflation – Europeans' willingness to share resources equally across member states has remained steady since 2018. On a scale of 0 to 10, average support for solidarity sits at 5.71 in 2025, which is slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels. "What's remarkable is not just that solidarity survived these shocks, but that it actually strengthened slightly," notes Dietlind Stolle, European University Institute and McGill University, one of the study's lead researchers. The data suggests that shared challenges may be reinforcing, rather than undermining, European cohesion.
Yet this solidarity is not uniform across the continent. Southern and eastern European countries show significantly stronger support for equal resource sharing compared to their northern and western counterparts. Citizens in countries like Greece, Spain, Poland, and Romania are more enthusiastic about redistribution, while those in Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavian nations express more reservation. This pattern largely mirrors the economic geography of the EU, with net beneficiary countries more supportive of redistribution than net contributors.
The most dramatic finding, however, regards Europeans' perceived threats to their security. Russia unsurprisingly tops the list, with 37% of respondents identifying it as the biggest threat to their country's security – a perception solidified after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when security and war surged to fourth place in Europeans' main priorities. But in an unprecedented development, the United States has emerged as the second-most cited security concern at 17%, surpassing traditional threats, like terrorism, and far exceeding worries about China.
This shift coincides directly with Donald Trump's return to the White House in January 2025. The survey shows that the American President's persistent questioning of the United States' commitment to NATO and suggestions that European nations do not pay their fair share for defense have, for many Europeans, transformed their most powerful ally into a source of strategic uncertainty. These insights were also confirmed in a survey experiment embedded in the project. When presented with a hypothetical scenario where "the US were to leave NATO and withdraw its troops from Europe," respondents' support for creating an integrated European army jumped from 54% to 62%, demonstrating how emerging American unreliability directly drives European desire for strategic autonomy.
Nonetheless, while geopolitical concerns capture headlines, Europeans' daily worries remain firmly rooted in economic realities. Nearly half of all respondents identify inflation and the cost of living as the most important issue facing their country. This economic anxiety has dominated European concerns since 2021 and shows little sign of abating, despite some moderation in inflation rates.
Despite their economic anxieties, Europeans continue to back their governments' support for Ukraine. After experiencing a decline after the initial surge of solidarity in 2022, this support seems to have stabilised in 2025, a trend researchers attribute to the uncertainty about American commitment to European security. Three-quarters of Europeans approve of providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, 68% favour accepting Ukrainian refugees, and nearly half support fast-tracking the country's EU accession. Regarding defense support, a smaller majority of 53% backs sending weapons and military equipment, and 32% are in favour of sending troops directly into the conflict.
However, with energy prices having spiked and household budgets under pressure, only 35% of Europeans say they're willing to accept higher energy costs to support Ukraine. This reveals a broader contradiction in Europeans' attitudes towards defense. Despite the surge in worry about the matter and strong support for specific measures – for example, 68% believe their countries should invest more in defense and security to counter Russian threats, and 72% view NATO as important to their country's security – only 30% think their government spends too little on defense.
This paradox – wanting stronger defense without higher defense spending – reflects the competing pressures Europeans face. "Citizens recognise the security threats and support collective defense mechanisms," explains Lorenzo Cicchi, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. "But when it comes to opening their wallets, they're thinking about inflation, healthcare, and social services. It's a classic guns-versus-butter dilemma, playing out in real time."
The survey's expanded coverage to 22 countries in 2025 also reveals important regional patterns. Eastern European nations closest to Russia show the highest concern about security threats and strongest support for defense measures; Southern European countries hit hardest by economic crises demonstrate the greatest desire for EU solidarity and resource sharing; Northern European nations show resilience and strength in their support for Ukraine due, in part, to their geographic closeness to Russia, while Western European nations seem more divided in their response to Ukraine, likely because they are captured by strong pro-Russian forces.
European practitioners gathered in Brussels on October 1st, 2025 to discuss the results of the survey in the event Are Europeans ready to support (and defend) each other?, co-organised by the project partners and the European Union Institute for Strategic Studies (EUISS). The event provided a forum for policymakers and researchers to discuss several implications arising from the report. First, the perception of the United States as a potential threat rather than reliable ally marks a watershed moment in transatlantic relations that could accelerate European defense integration and strategic autonomy initiatives which have long been discussed, but never implemented.
Second, the persistence of economic concerns alongside security worries creates a complex policy environment. European governments and policymakers must balance competing demands for social spending and defense investment, while simultaneously maintaining public support for Ukraine and managing inflation expectations.
Finally, the stability of European solidarity despite multiple crises suggests that predictions of the EU's demise have been premature. While challenges remain substantial, public support for European cooperation and resource sharing has proven more durable than many expected.
The project's team plans to continue tracking these trends, with particular attention to how American foreign policy decisions affect European attitudes and whether economic concerns eventually erode support for Ukraine. "We're witnessing a potential turning point in European integration," notes Stolle. "External pressures from both East and West may be accomplishing what decades of internal efforts couldn't – creating genuine European strategic unity."
The project Solidarity in Europe is done in partnership with YouGov and tracks the evolution of solidarity in Europe (SiE), understood as the sharing of risks and resources amongst Europeans. The project fields a yearly, nationally-representative, large-N survey since 2018, with the aim of monitoring the extent to which support for solidarity has changed over time.