Key facts
- GLOBSEC's 2026 Trends report found 71% of European respondents want the EU to have its own army.
- Support for an EU army reached 82% in Romania, 78% in Lithuania and 75% in France, per the report.
- Some 70% of respondents in Poland and Bulgaria backed an EU army, alongside 69% in Germany.
- The report found 78% of EU respondents supported developing the bloc's own defense capabilities alongside NATO.
- More than one-third of European respondents consider the United States a security threat, per the report.
- Germany was the only surveyed country where a majority regarded Washington as a security threat, the report found.
Some 71% of Europeans want the EU to have its own army, according to GLOBSEC's 2026 Trends report, polling results seen by POLITICO and published on November 13, 2026. Support was strong across the member countries surveyed, reaching 82% in Romania, followed by Lithuania at 78% and France at 75%.
Even in countries traditionally wary of European defense integration, majorities backed the idea, with some 70% of respondents in Poland and Bulgaria in support, alongside 69% in Germany. GLOBSEC surveyed respondents in 14 countries across the transatlantic space, including 11 EU member states, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The report found the appetite for European military capabilities did not appear to be a rejection of NATO. Some 77% of respondents in the NATO countries surveyed said they would vote to remain members, while 78% of respondents in the EU countries surveyed supported developing the bloc's own defense capabilities alongside the alliance. Among respondents in countries without compulsory military service, 64% favored its reintroduction, with the highest numbers in Czechia, France, Germany and Slovakia.
Attitudes toward Washington showed a transatlantic divide. More than one-third of respondents across the European countries surveyed now consider the United States a security threat. Around half of respondents in Germany, France and Britain held that view, compared with roughly one-third in Central and Eastern Europe. Germany was the only country surveyed where a majority regarded Washington as a security threat.
Germany also stood apart on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Some 40% of German respondents agreed with the claim that Ukraine's treatment of Russian speakers justified the invasion, while 39% believed the West provoked the war. Just over half considered Ukraine's fight important to German security, while nearly six in 10 would accept Ukrainian territorial concessions in exchange for peace.