NATO Survey: Half of Bulgarians do not want to Protect an Ally

Just over 50% of Bulgarians do not want to defend a NATO ally if it is attacked. Over 10% do not want NATO to protect them if Bulgaria is attacked.

These and other data show a sociological survey from November 2022 among the 30 member countries of the alliance plus Sweden and Finland.

The participants were asked to choose one of the degrees between 0 and 10 (greatest agreement) of agreement with the statement that Bulgaria should defend another NATO country if it is attacked.

Just under a fifth (18%) say they are in the middle - neither to protect nor not to protect an ally. One in four (25%) is in favor of helping a NATO country, with 9% choosing the most emphatic answer of this group, "totally disagree".

Again, the largest group of pro-union Bulgarians is the one with the categorical "I completely agree" (14%). The rest are evenly distributed in groups of 9-10 percent each.

The Bulgarians are not quite at the bottom when it comes to answering the question of whether they would like the other allies to protect Bulgaria if it were attacked. Slovakia, North Macedonia, Estonia and Montenegro are worse off.

More than two-thirds (68%) agreed to accept allied aid, 11% disagreed, and 16% said they were torn between the two. Another 5% say they don't know the answer. This means that a third of the surveyed Bulgarians are against, wonder or don't know if they want to be protected by the other allies. But also 25% supported "Definitely yes".

Across the board, more than half of those surveyed believe that their country's membership in NATO prevents an attack from another country. In Bulgaria, 57% of the respondents think so - just as much as in Germany. At the bottom is the USA with 54% conviction that because of the...