One-Third of Serbs Support Country’s EU Accession, As Many Against It

European union

 Demostat, a research and publishing center, found in its latest survey that if a referendum on Serbia’s accession to the European Union (EU) was held today, 33 percent of Serbian citizens would vote in favor of it, and as many against it.

Seventeen percent of the population would vote in the referendum, and as many don’t know or have no answer to the question how they would vote on Serbia’s entry into the Union.

“Judging by Demostat’s field survey including 1,600 citizens across Serbia, conducted late in April and early in May, the number of those in favor of the country’s EU accession is equal to the number of those opposed to it,” Demostat reported.

The center’s previous survey, carried out last December in Belgrade, showed that 30 percent of the population would support Serbia’s entry into the EU, and slightly more, 31 percent, would be against it. Nearly 40 percent said they would abstain from voting, or didn’t answer the question.

As the latest survey covering the entire territory of Serbia showed that the “for” and “against” ratios were identical, 33 percent each, and having in mind that Belgrade is traditionally home to more pro-European supporters than the rest of Serbia, it is safe to say that the number of those in favor of the EU has increased slightly, a Demostat researcher, Milomir Mandic, explained.

Mandic said that the slight increase was encouraging, having in mind the government’s narrative which was definitely not pro-European. The researcher believes that one of the reasons behind the uptick might be existential fears and a chance of decreasing standards of living due to inflation, growing living costs and loan installments.