Eurobarometer: Trust in the EU has improved more in Hungary than in any other member state

According to data released by Eurobarometer on Thursday, 57 percent of Hungarians trust the European Union. In the previous edition of the biannual representative opinion poll, only 48 percent shared this view. With a difference of nine percentage points, Hungary has seen the greatest improvement in this regard compared to other member states, with Croatia coming in second with an improvement of five percentage points. The proportion of Hungarians who do not trust the EU has decreased the most compared to other countries, from 46 percent to 40 percent. Meanwhile, the EU average has shifted in the opposite direction.

The majority of Hungarians do not trust their government, with 53 percent expressing this view, compared to 41 percent who said the opposite. Admittedly, this is a slight improvement compared to the results from spring 2025, but it is still more flattering for the Hungarian leadership than the EU average (63 percent are distrustful of their own government).

The proportion of Hungarians who have a favorable view of the European Union has also grown significantly. At 42 percent, Hungary has seen the biggest improvement, tying with Austria, although this has mostly happened at the expense of the size of the neutral group (also 42 percent). There was also a slight increase in the number of people in Hungary who view the EU negatively, but they still remain in the minority at 16 percent. The EU averages are similar (42 percent positive, 38 percent neutral, 19 percent negative).

Eighty-two percent of Hungarian respondents believe that EU membership has been beneficial for Hungary, 58 percent are optimistic about the future of the EU, and 56 percent view the state of the EU economy as good. However, only 20 percent expect the latter to improve in the coming year, 51 percent believe it will remain the same, and 24 percent believe it will weaken. When asked about the Hungarian economy, the figures are worse: 41 percent view the situation as good, while 57 percent view it as bad. Only 17 percent expect improvement, 34 percent expect it to weaken, and 49 percent do not believe there will be any change.

Twenty-three percent of Hungarians identify strongly as EU citizens, 54 percent identify as EU citizens to some extent, while 19 percent do not really identify as EU citizens and 4 percent do not identify as EU citizens at all.

When it comes to the most important challenges facing the EU, most Hungarians' opinion (26 percent) was in line with the EU average in considering Russia's invasion of Ukraine to be one of the top two challenges. Immigration came second (22 percent), followed by the economy (18 percent).

Despite the Hungarian government's constant criticism of Brussels, Hungarians' satisfaction rate with the EU's response to the Russian invasion is above the EU average: (9 percent) are very satisfied, 46 percent are somewhat satisfied, 25 percent are not really satisfied, 16 percent not at all satisfied). When it comes to being satisfied with the government's reaction to the same, the rates are in the same order: 16-38-28-15 percent.

As far as approving of the different forms of assistance provided to Ukrainians, the picture is more in line with what one might expect: whether it be about accepting refugees, financial and humanitarian aid, sanctions, EU membership, or military equipment and weapons, Hungary ranks fourth or fifth from the bottom. On the last two questions, those who were more or less or completely opposed to the idea outnumbered those who agreed at least to some extent, while on the other questions – including sanctions – the opposite was true.

Amid the momentum of the EU’s free trade negotiations, more Hungarians than the EU average agree that the EU should strengthen its economic independence and diversify its trade relations around the world. (34 percent said yes to this, while 52 percent were inclined to agree.) Seventy-nine percent supported a common climate policy, which is also higher than the EU average.

This summer, the European Commission presented its proposal for the next seven-year budget, starting in 2028. The Eurobarometer also asked Europeans what they would spend the future budget on. Hungarians would mainly (44 percent) spend it on employment, social affairs, and healthcare. Security and defense came second (34 percent). Education, vocational training, youth affairs, culture and media, climate and environmental protection, and agriculture and rural development followed neck and neck with 28-28-28 percent each.

Methodology

The 104th edition of the Eurobarometer was conducted by Verian Belgium between October 9 and November 5 on behalf of the European Commission. The data for the opinion poll on which the analysis is based was collected in October 2025 by various polling organizations (in Hungary, this was Kantar Hoffmann between October 10 and 25). Approximately 1,000 people were interviewed in person in each country either face-to-face or partly via video link (in Hungary, 1,015 people were interviewed face-to-face). The margin of error for samples of 1,000 people is 1.4-3.1 percent. The data is representative of the countries (except for the part of Cyprus under Turkish occupation, where no interviews could be conducted), and EU averages were calculated by weighting the data from the member states.