As regards the attitude towards EU membership of the Western Balkan countries and Ukraine, Austria is a negative exception. Constructive European policy is now only a minority program in this country.
The finding that Austrians tend to speak out against EU expansion is not new – but until now it was assumed in Vienna and Brussels that the rejection was against geographically distant or religiously different EU aspirants such as Georgia, Ukraine or Turkey, while consent to membership from neighboring Balkan countries (and historically linked to Austria) still exists. However, a survey carried out by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in six EU member states in November, which will be published on Tuesday and which “Die Presse” was able to see in advance, paints a different picture: According to This, Austria is the negative outlier across the EU when it comes to approving expansion – and, contrary to expectations, even neighbors are not welcome in this country.
1. Approval of EU enlargement is generally about to end…
The global image of Europe comes first: Enthusiasm among respondents in Germany, France, Denmark, Austria, Poland and Romania for an enlargement round is limited. Only in the last two Member States do majorities support greater membership (see graph), while in other places the opponents are in the majority. However, the rapprochement reveals a nuanced picture: in three future EU members – Montenegro, Moldova and Ukraine – the number of those in favor of membership is greater than those who are opposed to membership.