A new Eurobarometer survey released today, ahead of the Munich Security Conference, shows “Europeans’ growing perception of threat for their countries in the current international situation”. The majority of them would also entrust EU with strengthening defence. “Investment in this field is also seen as important”. EU space programmes “are perceived as essential instruments for addressing defence and security, environment and climate and competitiveness”, Eurobarometer reports. “The most notable result is that more than two thirds of Europeans (68%) believe their country is under threat”. Member States with the highest threat perception are France (80%), followed by Netherlands and Denmark (77%), and Cyprus and Germany (75%). “At the same time, 42% of citizens believe their personal safety is at risk”. The majority of Europeans trust the EU to strengthen security and defence (52%), especially in countries like Luxembourg (76%), Portugal (74%), Cyprus (73%) and Lithuania (71%). Amid the roll-out of several related initiatives over the past year, nearly three-quarters of respondents (74%) approve of the EU’s current level of defence investment or believe that spending should be increased. This Flash Eurobarometer included 27,292 interviews across the EU.