Poll: 30 per cent of Bulgarians approve funding, supply of military equipment to Ukraine
Just 30 to 31 per cent of Bulgarians approve of financing the purchase and supply of military equipment to Ukraine, according to the results of a flash Eurobarometer poll released on May 5.
Bulgaria and Cyprus are the two European Union countries with the lowest levels of approval for such a move, according to the poll.
The Eurobarometer poll was done in the 27 EU member states between April 13 and 20, before the May 4 vote in Bulgaria’s Parliament that produced a mandate for the government for Bulgaria to repair Ukrainian military equipment in Bulgaria, but with no mandate to supply arms to Ukraine.
Approval for purchasing and supply military equipment to Ukraine was highest in Finland, at 90 per cent, Eurobarometer said.
The poll found that support for providing humanitarian support to the people affected by the war is at 90 per cent or above in all EU countries.
In a number of aspects, the poll found Bulgarians to be the lowest in solidarity towards Ukrainians.
Seventy-two per cent of Bulgarians polled said that they felt sympathy towards Ukrainians, but that was the lowest percentage in the EU.
The proportion agreeing they feel sympathy towards Ukrainians is above seven in ten in all EU countries, ranging from Bulgaria’s 72 per cent, 77 per cent in Hungary and 80 per cent in Slovakia, to 94 per cent in Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal and Sweden, and 96 per cent in Malta.
The largest proportions disagreeing that Ukraine should join the EU when it is ready are found in Luxembourg (38 per cent), Greece (37 per cent), Hungary (36 per cent), Austria and Bulgaria (both 35 per cent), and Cyprus and Slovakia (both 34 per cent).
An overwhelming majority of respondents polled across either totally (52 per cent) or tend to agree (26 per cent) that Russian authorities are responsible for the current situation. But Bulgaria and Cyprus are the only two countries where a (relative) majority disagree that Russian authorities are responsible for the war (46 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively), Eurostat said.
Satisfaction with the reaction of the EU to the war ranges from 29 per cent in Greece, 32 per cent in Bulgaria and 33 per cent in Cyprus, to 63 per cent in Romania, 65 per cent in Finland and 67 per cent in Denmark. Satisfaction with the other authorities shows a similar country pattern.
In each of the 27 EU member states, more than half of respondents agree that the war in Ukraine shows the need for greater military co-operation within the EU.
The smallest shares agree in Bulgaria (54 per cent) and Slovenia (59 per cent), while the largest shares agree in Portugal (88 per cent), followed by Estonia, Lithuania and Poland (all 85 per cent).
Respondents from different EU countries are somewhat more divided about measures to reduce the EU’s dependency on Russian gas and oil as soon as possible, with Bulgaria again the lowest.
In Slovakia, 59 per cent of respondents agree these measures should be taken, compared to 96 per cent in Portugal.
Apart from in Slovakia, relatively few respondents support measures to reduce the EU’s dependency on Russian gas and oil as soon as possible in Bulgaria (63 per cent), Hungary (67 per cent) and Cyprus (69 per cent).
Respondents in Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece are the least likely to trust the various information sources regarding the war in Ukraine.
For example, the proportion trusting information from European authorities ranges from 39 per cent in Greece, 41 per cent in Bulgaria and 42 per cent in Cyprus, to 85 per cent in both Finland and Portugal, Eurostat’s poll found.
(Photo: UP9/Wikimedia Commons)
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