14_Foreign policy_perceptions difference_GW

Foreign policy is one of the areas where more citizens find EU action adequate (41 %) than insufficient (36 %); only 6 % find it excessive. This analysis must be nuanced, however. Citizens find it hard to assess EU foreign policy and the proportion of citizens who ‘don’t know’ if they would like the EU to intervene less or more in this domain is the second largest (12 % in 2018) after industrial policy. The overall improvement in the evaluation of EU involvement in foreign policy is four percentage points. This positive trend is shared by all Member States but three – Luxembourg (a seven percentage point decrease), the UK (five percentage point decrease) and Germany (two percentage point decrease). The highest improvement in the evaluation of EU involvement in the foreign policy was registered in Romania (an 18 percentage point increase) and Bulgaria (16 percentage point increase). The gap between expectations and evaluations of EU involvement in foreign policy remains small despite a slight increase. The increase is caused by increased citizens’ expectations, surpassing the improvement in citizens’ evaluations of EU involvement.