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As of 2024, ** percent of European Union citizens disagree with the sentiment that EU countries share something in common with the candidate countries to the east of the EU's current borders. Inquiring cultural and other commonalities is important for the question whether these countries will join the EU. In fact, countries where public opinion view more similarities with the candidate countries seem to support stronger the future membership of that country in the EU.

Europeans are generally in favor of their eastern neighbors joining the EU, with notable exceptions

There is, in fact, general support among EU citizens for the **** candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Georgia, and Ukraine) to join the European Union. However, this is sharply divided between member states, with citizens of countries such as France, Czechia, and Luxembourg not supporting their future membership. France is the country with the second-highest share of respondents disagreeing that EU countries have much in common with the candidate countries, ** percent of French respondents disagreeing. France has indeed been a long-time skeptic of the EU's enlargement policies, with this only beginning to change following the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022.Ìý

On the other hand, Poland, Sweden, and Romania are the countries with the most people agreeing that they share things in common with the candidate countries, and the support for further EU enlargement is high in those countries. In the candidate countries themselves, there are some countries with extremely skeptical attitudes towards the EU, notably Serbia.Ìý