Which Countries Should be Allowed to Join the EU?

On February 28, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy signed an official request for his country to join the EU. In light of the Russian invasion, Zelenskyy asked for immediate Ukrainian membership of the EU, proposing this be done under “a new special procedure”. On the same day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “they are one of us, and we want them in”.

While this process would take a significant length of time, and the Ukraine has not yet been accepted as an official candidate country (such as the other states featured in this infographic), what do the people of the EU say? Do they also "want them in"? According to a recent survey by YouGov in the key EU countries of Germany, France, Spain and Italy, the answer is a pretty clear "yes".

Between 42 and 60 percent of respondents in these countries said they think Ukraine should be allowed to become a member of the union. When weighed against those saying it shouldn't, the average net response becomes 22 percent - far more than the next most popular candidate, Montenegro with 8 percent and in a completely different league to Turkey for which the net score is -32 percent.