Better economic standard, higher salaries and pensions, employment opportunities, benefits of visa-free travel are some of the first associations to the European Union, according to the latest public opinion poll conducted by Ninamedia for the EU Delegation to Serbia. However, only 36.8 percent of respondents believe that Serbia will enter the EU before 2030.
According to the results of the survey, a little more than half of the respondents would vote for EU accession, and 33.4% would be against if a referendum on Serbia’s membership in the EU were organized today, according to the latest survey by the EU Delegation to Serbia.
The research also states that counting only those respondents who clearly expressed their opinion, the referendum would lead to a result of 61 to 39 percent in favor of EU accession.
It is stated that support for EU integration is especially strong among young people (aged 18 to 29), of whom 60.3 percent of respondents would vote for EU accession, while only 23.1 percent would vote against.
Presenting the research, the EU Delegation in Serbia evaluates these results as strong support for EU accession among the citizens of Serbia, despite the fact that the majority of the citizens of our country believe that we are still far from membership.
According to the same research, as it is added, only 36.8 percent of Serbian citizens believe that EU accession will happen before 2030, while 32.9 percent believe that it will happen after 2031.
Also, 22.9 percent believe that EU accession will never happen, and only 43% of citizens believe that the EU wants Serbia as a member, while 46 percent think the opposite.
“Economic prosperity, higher wages, social protection, environmental protection, rule of law, fight against corruption are the basic values and goals of the EU, and that is what the citizens of Serbia recognize in the Union,” said Sam Fabrizi, head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia.
“Young people under the age of 30 give more support to the EU than other age groups, and these data have been confirmed in numerous studies,” said Jelena Fratucan, director of Ninamedia.
The results of the research also showed that better and more objective communication about the EU remains a general need of the citizens of Serbia, because more than half of the respondents believe that they are not sufficiently informed about the functioning of the EU.
That information includes the advantages and consequences of EU membership, information on how citizens live there.
Citizens also need more information on the effects of accession on the economic situation and living standards.
The research was conducted in November-December 2020 with 1202 sample sizes from 40 cities and municipalities, using the CAPI method, which includes personal surveys with the help of computers.
The Belgrade Center for Security Policy recently published the results of its research, according to which 40% of respondents perceive Russia as Serbia’s best friend.
The results of the BCSP survey, published in November, showed that a majority of 51 percent do not support Serbia’s membership in the Union, compared to 46 percent of respondents who would opt for membership, Nova Ekonomija reports.
