EU citizens agreeing that core EU values are respected 2021| ��ƽ��

Share of EU citizens agreeing that the core values of the EU such as fundamental rights, democracy, and the rule of law are protected by their home country in 2021, by member states

Characteristic	Totally agree	Tend to agree	Don't know	Tend to disagree	Totally disagree
Bulgaria	5	29	12	37	17
Slovenia	5	31	2	43	19
Greece	7	35	1	41	16
Latvia	5	39	0	43	13
Croatia	4	40	2	37	17
Slovakia	5	41	2	38	14
Cyprus	8	38	3	36	15
Romania	6	44	4	34	12
Malta	10	42	5	30	13
Lithuania	7	47	0	35	11
Poland	6	49	2	27	16
Italy	4	54	4	32	6
France	10	48	6	25	11
Hungary	6	53	2	26	13
Czechia	11	52	0	30	7
Spain	9	55	4	23	9
EU average	15	50	3	24	8
Portugal	11	58	0	28	3
Belgium	18	58	1	18	5
Austria	26	52	1	18	3
Estonia	18	60	0	19	3
Germany	32	47	2	15	4
Finland	40	45	0	12	3
Ireland	23	63	0	13	1
Netherlands	36	50	1	10	3
Denmark	36	51	1	11	1
Luxembourg	31	59	1	7	2
Sweden	36	55	0	7	2

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Release date

February 2022

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Region

Europe, EU

Survey time period

March 16 to April 12, 2021

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The values of liberal democracy, the rule of law, and respect for the fundamental rights of citizens are central to the project of the European Union. For a country to become a member of the union, they must demonstrate that they have safeguarded these values at home over a certain period of time. Nevertheless, there is a sharp divide between member states where citizens believe these rights are actually respected in practice and those where they don't.

Many countries who joined the EU in the Eastern enlargement accession rounds of 2004, 2007, and 2013 perform particularly poorly, with Bulgaria, Slovenia, Latvia, Croatia and Slovakia having a majority of citizens reporting that these EU values are not protected in their home countries. Southern European states such as Greece, Cyprus, and Malta also perform poorly in this area. As with many indicators of good governance, the Nordic member states of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland come towards the top of the list, along with Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Ireland.