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Based on a poll conducted by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP), published on the Kossev web portal on Nov. 23, 52 percent of Serbia’s citizens believe the country should militarily intervene in case of an armed conflict in Kosovo, while 47 percent of the respondents stated they would personally join such action.
Yet, 70 percent of those polled believe that there will be no armed clashes in the Balkans in the next five years. The majority also believes that Serbia’s foreign policy priorities should be keeping Kosovo and Metohija within its borders, and strengthening the ties with the neighboring countries and Russia.
“These results are a bit surprising given the extremely belligerent narrative that has been dominating Serbia’s pro-government media scene when it comes to the other regional players. Only in 2016 and 2017, we saw two pro-government tabloids publish a total of 265 articles about the possibility of a war breaking out or a clash occurring,” the survey concluded.
Around two-thirds of respondents believe that a permanent peace between the Serbs and the Albanians is possible, while half of them think that is only possible if the matter of Kosovo is peacefully resolved.
The survey also shows that 54 percent of respondents are worried that a Greater Albania may well become a reality in the future. Another 40 percent are convinced that the launching of an armed conflict in the Balkans is primarily in the interest of Albanians, while 20 percent mentioned NATO in this context.
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