Globsec: Most Slovaks support Slovakia’s membership in NATO and the EU, a survey showed

Bratislava – The majority of Slovaks support the membership of the Slovak Republic in the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Membership in both associations of countries has support of over 70 percent. This is according to a public opinion survey in nine countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Globsec Trends 2025, the results of which were presented by the organization at a press conference on Wednesday, TASR reports.

“Another question was whether respondents would defend their country in the event that it was attacked by a foreign state. Here we see that yes, in most countries this is the case. Slovakia is an exception in this region, where only 49 percent of respondents from Slovakia would go and defend the country if it were attacked by a foreign state. These are huge differences, especially when we compare it with Poland, where the willingness to defend one’s country is at 84 percent,” said analyst Katarína Klingová from the Center for Democracy and Resilience of the Globsec organization.

The survey revealed that within the region, 73 percent of respondents believe that their country should increase defense spending. In Slovakia, this is 63 percent of those surveyed. More than two-thirds of Slovak respondents also agree with the introduction of voluntary military service. For comparison – in Poland, this is 89 percent.

The data also showed that the majority of people in Slovakia and the region believe that democracy is beneficial for the country. However, approximately 43% of respondents believe that democracy does not exist and the world is secretly controlled by elites. This is a slight underaverage compared to all monitored countries.

According to the survey, half of the respondents in Slovakia perceive Russia as a threat. Some of its activities are perceived as a greater threat – 54% of respondents from Slovakia. The discrepancy in respondents’ opinions is stronger regarding China, which is perceived as a threat by 33 percent of the Slovak population. Concerns, however, increased to 51 percent when the question was directed specifically at a particular category of Chinese activities.

“The basic premise is that when we ask about, say, the security threat, I think people often imagine that it is about physical attack,” Klingová said. According to her, society needs to be explained the concept of hybrid threats. After the invasion of Ukraine, the perception of Russia as a threat increased. (May 14)