Most Europeans want UK to remain in EU, says survey

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

More than half of Europeans (54 percent) want the United Kingdom to remain in the EU, while 21 percent support the Brexit, a German survey revealed on Monday.

Germany’s largest private operating non-profit foundation, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and technology company Dalia Research conducted a poll in April with a sample size of 10,992 participants.

They found that that support for the U.K. remaining in the EU is particularly strong in Spain (64 percent) and Poland (61 percent), while Italy (55 percent) and Germany (54 percent) oppose the possibility of a Brexit.

France has been the least positive about the U.K. remaining in the EU, with 41 percent of the respondents to the survey opposing the Brexit, while 25 percent of the respondents support it.

While many Europeans have expressed concern for the Brexit’s negative consequences for the future of the EU, they expressed little worry about their own countries.

As citizens of EU member states, 45 percent of the respondents said they expect the position of the EU and its economic strength to be weakened in case of Brexit.

The respondents in Poland (51 percent) and in Germany (48 percent) were the most “worried” over the EU’s loss of power without the U.K. as a member state.

But when asked about a possible negative impact of the Brexit on their own countries, 67 percent of the respondents said they do not expect an impact on their country.

The countries “unconcerned” about the impact of the Brexit, according to the survey, are Spain (71 percent), Italy (68 percent) and France (68 percent).

Britain will hold a nationwide referendum on June 23 on whether it should leave or stay in the 28-nation bloc. Recent polls show a tight race between the pro-EU and pro-Brexit camps.