For Europe Day 2026 (May 9) Sociological Group “Rating” (Rating Group) prepared the 4th issue of the study “Common Contours”. This time we compare:

• how Ukraine and other EU candidate countries perceive membership in the European Union;
• how Ukraine and the EU member states see the main values of the EU.

We would like to remind readers that Common Contours is a research series about Ukraine in a European context, where we mirror questions and compare data from our own surveys of Ukrainians with findings from surveys conducted in EU member states, candidate countries, and other European countries. In this edition, we compare the results of our survey with Eurobarometer data - the official EU survey series conducted by the European Commission and the European Parliament.

Note: Eurobarometer data belongs directly to the EU and we thank you for open access to it.

Is EU membership good or bad?

‍The vast majority of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine's accession to the EU would be a good thing. We are among the candidate countries with the most positive views on EU membership.

• In particular, 59% of respondents in Ukraine perceive EU membership positively, while 29% say it would be neither good nor bad. Only 6% express a negative opinion.
• Positive attitudes dominate across all macro-regions, with the highest level recorded in Kyiv (70%).
• Among EU candidate countries, the most positive attitudes toward EU membership are found in Albania (80% said EU membership would be a good thing) and Ukraine itself (59%).
• At the same time, Ukraine has the lowest share of direct negative assessments of EU membership among candidate countries. While this figure stands at 6% in Ukraine, it reaches 16% in Albania, 52% in Montenegro, and 33% in Moldova.

Would the country benefit from EU membership?

72% of Ukrainians are convinced that the country would benefit from EU membership

• Another 18% said there would be no benefit, and 10% said they did not know.
• Interestingly, even among opponents of joining the EU, almost one in five recognizes that membership in the European Union would be beneficial.
• Residents of Kyiv (80%) and the West (77%) speak about the benefits of membership relatively more often, but we also see a proportionately high rate among residents of other regions (Center - 71%, East - 68%, South - 67%).
• Among the ‍ candidate countries, Ukraine is among the most optimistic about the benefits of EU membership, along with Albania (85%), North Macedonia (77%) and Georgia (72%).

Perceptions of EU values

‍ We asked respondents to choose from a list of values that they think best represent the European Union.

For Ukrainians, the values of the European Union are прежде всего peace, respect for human life, democracy, respect for rights, and the rule of law. Overall, Ukrainians’ perceptions of EU values are highly similar to views within EU member states themselves.

• Most often, Ukrainians mention peace (42%) and respect for human life (39%) as the key values of the EU.
• Ukrainians and EU citizens share similar perceptions of the EU as a space of peace-related values (42% in Ukraine and 41% on average across the EU), democracy (29% and 33%), respect for rights (22% and 28%), and the rule of law (23% and 20%).
• It is worth noting that, in the context of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians mention respect for human life (39%) significantly more often than respondents in EU countries on average (15%).
• Compared to other key values, Ukrainians relatively less frequently selected solidarity and support for others (12%, compared to 23% in the EU average).

Below, take a look at what some of these expectations look like on the map.

Democracy

• Almost one third of Ukrainians (29%) selected democracy among the values that best represent the EU.
• By this indicator, Ukrainian public opinion generally follows the broader European trend, particularly the trend observed in Eastern European countries.
• A similar share selecting this answer option can be found in Latvia (29%), Estonia (29%), Slovakia (28%), and Bulgaria (28%). Comparable figures are also observed in several Western, Central, and Southern European countries, including France (28%), the Czech Republic (29%), and Spain (31%).

‍ Respect for human life - expectations from Ukraine's European future?

• ‍ Ukraine stands out significantly against the background of EU countries in the frequency of choosing respect for human life in the list of the main values of the EU.
• In the context of war, this indicates rather the desire for a peaceful and European future and security.

‍ Rule of Law

• Ukrainians and EU citizens share a very similar view on this value: 23% in Ukraine and 20% in the EU believe that the rule of law is best represented by the EU.
• The views of Ukrainians here are primarily similar to the opinions of the respondents of the Central European states.
• Ukrainians are more likely to speak of the rule of law as an EU value than our neighbours in Poland (11%), Romania (13%) or Slovakia (15%).

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Rating Group is one of the largest research institutions in Ukraine, which has been on the market since 2008. The company is registered in Ukraine and has significant experience in conducting sociological surveys in Ukraine and abroad. The group includes: Sociological Group Rating, Research Lab Rating Lab, Rating Online platform and Rating Call Center.