Most Serbs do not want to join the EU and do not support anti-Russian sanctions
The latest public opinion poll in Serbia conducted by Demostat found that the prevailing view in the country is that Russia is its most important foreign policy partner, and 80% of citizens do not agree that Belgrade should impose sanctions against Moscow.
At the same time, 56% of respondents believe that Serbia should not coordinate its foreign policy with the European Union; only 33% of residents hold the opposite opinion.
These data were announced by the head of the Demostat research group, sociologist Srečko Mihajlovic, presenting the results of the study at a conference in Belgrade.
According to Mihailovic, only 30% of respondents believe that Serbia’s path is connected with Europe, and 43% expressed a desire to refuse joining the EU. 25% of respondents said that “something in between” is required.
“Respondents were deliberately given the answer ‘something in between’ because the perception of the public mood of citizens was such that a significant part of citizens actually did not have an opinion on this matter,” Mihailovic said.
The study found that if a referendum were held tomorrow, 51% of citizens would vote against and 34% would vote in favor of joining the EU.
According to the research group, 81% of respondents agree with the position that Serbia must maintain its neutrality at all costs.
Regarding citizens' opinions of domestic and leaders, as well as heads of state from the region and the world, the study showed that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Russian President Vladimir Putin are in first place, followed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Member of the BiH Presidency of Serbia Milorad Dodik.
“The closest Europeans, according to our respondents, are Russians. 40% of citizens think so,” Mikhailovich said.
He also added that all other nations were mentioned much less frequently - Greeks 9%, French and Germans 8% each, Italians and Hungarians 6% each, and all others combined - 15%.
In addition, according to Mihailovic, 40% of respondents believe that Serbia's most important foreign policy partner is Russia, 30% say it is the EU, and 24% of respondents mentioned China.
However, when it comes to grant aid to Serbia, Mihailovic said that 35% of citizens believe that the EU gave the most, 26% believe that it is Russia, 22% of respondents mentioned China.
The triad of grant providers (European Union, Russia, China) also appears in the case of investments in Serbia, but in a slightly different order.
According to Mikhailovich, respondents most often named the EU (36%), China (34%), Russia (19%) and Germany (10%).
Of the third of Serbian citizens who are always pro-European, only 17% of respondents are aware of the political compromises that Serbia must make to become part of the EU. Currently, one of the EU's accession requirements is recognition of Kosovo's independence.
“This means that when Kosovo is included in the study as a control variable, EU support becomes even weaker,” a spokesman for the group said.
The Demostat study, entitled “Foreign Policy Orientations of Serbian Citizens,” was conducted through a telephone survey from June 13 to June 22 on a representative sample of 1203 respondents.
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