Eurobarometer: 58% of Bulgarians believe country has benefited from EU membership
A poll by Eurobarometer, the results of which were released on September 3, has found that 58 per cent of Bulgarians believe that the country has benefited from membership of the European Union.
This result, in the poll done among Bulgarians in May 2025, is down by three percentage points compared with an equivalent poll by Eurobarometer in January-February 2025.
It also is significantly lower than the EU average of 73 per cent.
The May poll found that 29 per cent of Bulgarians believed that the country has not benefited from joining the EU, which it did in January 2007. The EU average was 23 per cent.
Bulgarians who responded to the question with “don’t know” added up to 13 per cent, up by three percentage points compared with the result in the January-February poll.
For 50 per cent of Bulgarians polled, the EU had a positive image, down by four per cent compared with January-February. The EU average was 52 per cent.
For 28 per cent of Bulgarians, the EU had a neutral image, and for 21 per cent, a negative image. Each of these was up by two percentage points compared with the January-February poll.
For 32 per cent across the EU, the EU had a neutral image, and 16 per cent a negative image.
Asked to choose from a menu of benefits of EU membership, with more than one answer possible, among Bulgarians the one that came out on top, with 47 per cent, was new work opportunities.
Tying in second place, at 29 per cent, were that the EU membership contributes to promoting peace and strengthening security, and that membership improves co-operation with other EU countries.
The latest Eurobarometer poll in Bulgaria was done from May 9 to 26 2025, through face-to-face interviews with 1039 people.
(Photo: Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry)
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