Poll: 54 percent support EU membership

Poll: 54 percent support EU membership

BELGRADE -- A majority of Serbian citizens would vote in favor of their country's membership in the EU in a referendum, according to a new survey.

The survey was commissioned by the Beta news agency and conducted by Ipsos Strategic Marketing.

"Since the end of 2012 we have an upward trend, today we have more people than a year or a year and a half ago supporting entry into the EU," said representative of Ipsos Strategic Marketing Predrag Kurčubić.

If a referendum on this issue were called now, 54 percent would vote in favor. Beta said in its report that "29 percent would definitely vote in favor, 26 percent likely, while 19 percent would be certainly against, and eight percent would probably say 'no'."

The survey's results were presented on Tuesday in Belgrade. It was conducted February 22-27 on a representative sample larger than 1,000 respondents.

Beta news agency editor-in-chief Ivan Cvejić said that the agency as part of the Argus project would give to the media even more analytical materials on the negotiations on Serbia's membership in the EU, especially on chapters 23 and 24, the judiciary and the rule of law and human rights, which, as noted, will require fundamental changes in society.

The stance towards EU membership "is somewhat at odds with the opinion of citizens on international institutions and countries, considering that 27 percent said they had a positive opinion about the EU," the presentation also heard.

The fact that twice as many respondents supported Serbia's entry into the organization made Kurčubić conclude that Serbians "expect certain benefits from the EU, would be ready to support it because they expect...