Figure 1 – Percentage of respondents who would like the EU to intervene more than at present

According to a series of Eurobarometer surveys done for the European Parliament on ‘perceptions and expectations’, the support of EU citizens for stronger EU involvement in the energy supply and security policy area grew from 53 % in 2016 to 65 % in 2018. This is a 12 percentage point increase in citizens’ expectations – the highest among all policy areas addressed. There is still significant variation in support for increased EU involvement across the Member States. The strongest and weakest support for increased EU action was recorded in the same Member States in 2016 and in 2018, despite the increased support across all Member States. The highest expectations for more EU involvement are seen in Cyprus (85 % in 2018; 75 % in 2016) and Spain (82 % in 2018; 68 % in 2016), while the weakest is in the Czech Republic (46 % in 2018; 35 % in 2016) and Austria (41 % in 2018; 36 % in 2016).