Europeans think US is 'necessary partner' not 'ally', study finds

A majority of Europeans considers the US is a “necessary partner” rather than “an ally”, according to a poll published on Wednesday by the pan-European think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), against the backdrop of friction between the EU and US over tariffs.

This view was shared by half of the respondents to the survey, and a majority of those questioned in countries traditionally close to the US, such as Denmark, Germany and Poland.

“This represents a big change for some countries that used to be strongly transatlantic,” Pawel Zerka, ECFR’s senior policy fellow, said, adding: “But this is understandable because if Donald Trump does no longer present the transatlantic alliance as a true alliance, but as something which needs to be transactional, then we simply accept it.”

According to the analyst, the situation should be regarded as an “opportunity” for Europeans to try to set up a “pragmatic approach to the US rather than an idealistic one”.

The poll was conducted in 11 EU countries - including Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary – as well as Ukraine, Switzerland, and the UK.

However, it also shows diverging opinion on Trump himself, with more apparent supporters in south-east Europe and detractors in northern and western countries of Europe.

Almost half (49%) of Hungarians polled thought Trump’s re-election was positive for world peace, with 45% like-minded in Bulgaria and Romania. By contrast, 62% of Danes and 55% of Germans questioned thought he will be “bad” for world peace.

The study also showed broad variations in Europeans' perception of Europe and its role in the world. The largest camp, so-called “euro-optimists”, believe that the EU is a