A clear majority of Germans want a European army, permanent border controls and no further powers for Brussels. This emerges from a representative survey (1002 respondents) by the opinion research institute INSA for “Bild am Sonntag”.
All in all, 61 percent of those surveyed believe that EU membership is good for Germany, while only 25 percent think it is bad. However, only 24 percent are of the opinion that the EU has too few competences. 35 percent think the level of skills is just right, 27 percent think it is too high.
55 percent are in favor of a European army, 27 percent are against it. A relative majority of 48 percent reject the common debts brought into play by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (30 percent are in favor). In general, the Commission President’s reputation in Germany is rather mixed: just 37 percent of voters say she has done a good job. 44 percent are dissatisfied with their work in the past five years.
People’s trust is low, especially when it comes to migration. Only 27 percent trust Brussels to reduce the number of refugees coming to Europe. 62 percent do not believe that the EU’s measures will curb migration. 58 percent of voters are in favor of permanently increasing border controls between EU states. 33 percent don’t want that.
People are also skeptical about possible EU expansion. Only 33 percent are fundamentally against the EU accepting additional countries. At the same time, however, none of the current accession candidates enjoy broader support. 23% want Ukraine to become a member. The values for the other accession candidates (including Turkey, Georgia, Serbia) are each below 15 percent.
