The EU Is Not Going Anywhere: How Record Support Drowns Out Far-Right Critics

As far-right voices grow louder in calling for the European Union's dissolution, the bloc's citizens are telling a different story. Support for EU membership has reached record highs, and calls for a stronger, more unified Europe are drowning out the noise from nationalist corners.

The Noise from the Far-Right

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has made headlines with chancellor candidate Alice Weidel's calls to abolish the European Union. According to Bloomberg, Weidel has put Germany's EU exit on the ballot, promising voters a chance to leave what she calls the "monstrous EU" if the AfD wins power.

The rhetoric has found amplification on social media, where pro-Kremlin accounts eagerly share clips of Weidel declaring that "the EU must be abolished and the EU bureaucrats kicked out." Similar movements have emerged in France, with some calling for "Frexit" and tearing down EU flags in theatrical displays of discontent.

But these dramatic gestures obscure a fundamental reality: Europeans overwhelmingly value their Union.

Record Support for the EU

The latest Eurobarometer polling tells a starkly different story. In early 2025, support for EU membership reached 74 percent, the highest level recorded since the question was first asked in 1983. Far from collapsing, the European project has never been more popular.

As EU law professor Alberto Alemanno observed, "Europe's success is the real reason the Union is under fire." The very achievements that make the EU a target, its regulatory power, its market influence, its ability to set global standards, are what make it valuable to its citizens.

The European Council on Foreign Relations' latest polling shows that while Europeans may be pessimistic about geopolitical trends, they increasingly see the Union as their best protection. A majority supports higher defence spending, and nearly half support developing a European nuclear deterrent, signs of a population that wants more Europe, not less.

Calls for a Stronger Federation

Pro-European voices are calling not for retreat but for evolution. The NXT EU movement captures this sentiment, arguing that the EU must transform "from a weak bureaucracy, to a strong, democratic Federation of Nations" that can protect European civilization.

This is not idle talk. The EU institutions have signed a Joint Declaration on legislative priorities for 2026 that emphasizes unity, urgency, and ambition. For the first time, it sets out ten clear priorities to make the Union "stronger, safer, and more competitive."

The Union of European Federalists is pushing further, calling for Parliament to gain full legislative initiative powers and for qualified majority voting to replace national vetoes in foreign policy and defence. Their vision: a true bicameral legislature at the EU level.

Why the Critics Are Wrong

The Eurosceptic narrative relies on a fundamental misunderstanding. When Slovak PM Fico claims "the EU is collapsing," or when far-right accounts declare Brussels "dead," they mistake institutional debate for dysfunction.

The EU has always evolved through argument. The current debates about defence, enlargement, and institutional reform are signs of vitality, not decay. As pro-EU voices put it: "Our Union, our family, our market, our rules."

Consider what the EU has achieved while critics predicted its imminent demise: it expanded roaming benefits to Moldova and Ukraine, preparing these nations for eventual membership. It rallied to support Ukraine with over 216 billion euros in commitments. It took decisive action on Iran's human rights abuses, banning diplomats and preparing fresh sanctions.

These are not the actions of a dying institution.

The Real Threat

The true threat to Europe comes not from within but from those who would weaken it. When Russian state television mocks Europe's defence dilemma, the answer is not less integration but more. When Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen warns that outside powers "want to divide us to assert political and economic control," he echoes what most Europeans understand instinctively: a union of 450 million is harder to dominate than 27 separate nations.

The far-right's anti-EU rhetoric serves external interests, not European ones. It is no coincidence that pro-Kremlin accounts amplify every call for EU dissolution, every Frexit banner, every attack on Brussels bureaucrats.

Europe's Choice

The European Union stands at a crossroads, but not the one its critics imagine. The choice is not between the EU and national sovereignty, a false dichotomy that ignores how deeply intertwined European economies and societies have become.

The real choice is between evolution and stagnation. The EU can reform its institutions, strengthen its democratic legitimacy, and build the defence and economic capabilities to act as a true global power. Or it can remain paralyzed by the unanimity requirements that give every national government a veto over progress.

Most Europeans have made their preference clear. They want a Union that can act, that can protect, that can compete on the global stage. They want, as the Joint Declaration puts it, an EU that is stronger, safer, and more competitive.

The Frexit banners will keep waving. The anti-EU accounts will keep posting. But the fundamental reality remains: the European Union is not going anywhere. If anything, it is preparing to become more than it has ever been.