Public views on connectivity in Europe

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Debating Europe, Friends of Europe’s citizen engagement unit, launches a new report examining how Europeans perceive digital connectivity and its impact on society. The publication coincides with Friends of Europe’s event “Simplify to amplify: unleashing innovation through a stronger Digital Single Market”. Produced in collaboration with Vodafone, the report draws on an online survey conducted between 30 October and 18 November 2025 among 2,000 citizens aged 18 to 65 in Germany, Greece, Portugal and Romania.

The findings provide a comparative snapshot of public attitudes towards connectivity, digital infrastructure, and their social and economic implications. Across all four countries, digital connectivity is widely seen as essential to everyday life, economic participation and national security. Respondents show strong support for investment in next-generation networks and expect improved connectivity to deliver new jobs, better public services and greater opportunities for small businesses. Common concerns emerge across all countries in the study, notably around cybersecurity, infrastructure resilience and uneven service quality.

The survey also reveals higher levels of trust in the European Union than in national governments or private-sector actors to ensure secure and reliable networks, alongside a clear preference for greater European digital autonomy.

This report forms part of Friends of Europe’s wider digital and data governance agenda, which examines how Europe can strengthen its competitiveness, security and global leadership in an era of rapid technological transformation.

Across our various activities, we explore digital resilience and defence, AI governance, inclusion and skills, and data-driven competitiveness, among other topics – connecting citizen perspectives and high-level policy debates to help shape a coherent and globally-engaged European digital strategy.