Half of Europeans see Trump as enemy of Europe, rate risk of war with Russia as 'high ' - survey

A survey conducted in nine countries for the French platform for discussing European issues Le Grand Continet found that 48% of Europeans consider Trump an enemy of Europe, a relative majority (51%) believe that the risk of open war with Russia in the coming years is high, and 18% consider it very high.

"The survey showed that on average 48% of people in the nine countries consider Trump an open enemy - from 62% in Belgium and 57% in France to 37% in Croatia and 19% in Poland. However, Europeans still consider relations with the United States to be strategically important: when asked what position the EU should take towards the US government, the most popular option (48%) was compromise," the study said.

The survey, conducted in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Croatia, Belgium and the Netherlands, also found that a relative majority (51%) considered the risk of open war with Russia in the coming years to be “high”, while 18% considered it to be “very high”. However, opinions differed greatly depending on proximity to Russia: 77% of respondents in Poland considered the risk of war to be high, compared with 54% in France, 51% in Germany, 39% in Portugal and 34% in Italy.

The survey found that confidence in a country’s military capabilities was low everywhere: 69% of respondents in nine countries said they believed their country was "not very" or "not at all" capable of defending itself against Russian aggression.

The poll found that the vast majority of respondents in nine countries supported EU membership: 74% said they wanted their country to remain in the bloc, with the highest levels of support seen in Portugal (90%) and Spain (89%) and the lowest in Poland (68%) and France (61%).

Five years after Brexit, the UK's decision to leave the EU is largely seen as a failure: 63% believe it has had a negative impact on the UK, and only 19% believe it has been positive, including 5% who consider it very positive.