European Sentiment Compass 2023

11 May 2023

Here’s the 2023 edition of the European Sentiment Compass, an annual publication and joint initiative by European Council on Foreign Relations and the European Cultural Foundation. Subtitled ‘Culture clash: Russia, Ukraine, and the fight for the European public’ the report looks into how Russia’s war on Ukraine is a test of Europe’s values of openness, freedom, solidarity, and individual responsibility.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has become a major challenge for European culture, values, and identity as well. The war has tested Europe’s credibility in its declared attachment to the ideas of openness, freedom, solidarity, and individual responsibility. European countries and citizens have demonstrated unprecedented support for Ukraine and Ukrainians – but European authorities have faced major dilemmas too.

Should they boycott Russian culture as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine? Should they crack down on Russian media in the fight against disinformation? Should they impose sanctions on Russian citizens to make them pay the consequences for their government’s war of aggression? The way they respond to these and other similar dilemmas can either reassert or undermine European values.

Before downloading your copy below, you can read a report by Euronews, find an overview of media reporting on the European Sentiment Compass 2023, download the press release and the opinion piece by ECFR senior policy fellow Pawel Zerka and the European Cultural Foundation’s director André Wilkens.

Read the report

Below you can view videos of the launch of the 2023 European Sentiment Compass on Europe Day and a streamed conversation between Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency with Vessela Tcherneva, Deputy Director, ECFR.

The European Sentiment Compass 2023 was launched on Europe Day.

The second edition of the European Sentiment Compass was launched on Europe Day 2023 in a dedicated session: Pawel Zerka, senior policy fellow at ECFR, presented the report. In a conversation chaired by Isabelle Schwarz, Head of Public Policy at the European Cultural Foundation, various topics of the report were touched on. Fellow speakers in the event were: Olga Burlyuk, assistant professor ‘Europe’s external relations’ at University of Amsterdam, Hugues Mingarelli, former EU ambassador to Ukraine and Head of Delegation Ukraine, and Hugo Scheubel, Sciences Po graduate.

Russia's war in Ukraine as a challenge to European values

“When Russia invaded, it wasn’t just Ukraine being tested”, President Joe Biden declared during his visit to Warsaw in February. He was right in recognising the major implications this war has for the world – but he was wrong to suggest these implications are broadly similar for Europe, America, and other democracies. Given the everlasting question of whether Russia is or is not part of Europe, the complex (and often very tragic) history of Russia’s relations with its European neighbours, and its continuous soft power across much of the region, Russia’s war on Ukraine has become a major challenge for European culture and values.

Guest Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency in conversation with Vessela Tcherneva, Deputy Director, ECFR.

Publications