Majlinda Bregu (BETAPHOTO/RCC/Mario Sayadi)
Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) secretary general Majlinda Bregu said on May 9 that according to the new Balkan Barometer the citizens of the Western Balkans support for EU membership had substantially declined again.
"Still, considering that 54 percent of the citizens of the Western Balkans support membership in the EU, this sentiment is still largely favorable regionwide. An eight percent drop in 2021, however, is a painful reminder of the frustration that many citizens feel with the rate of progress, but is also a call for something to be done," she said on Europe Day.
Bregu said that it was positive that the percentage of those who believed that membership in the EU was unattainable had gone down by five percent, from 23 to 18 percent. "The Western Balkans have come a long way in the past two decades. The development of the region's potential, however, will demand new sources of dynamics and transformation so as to overcome deeply rooted social, institutional and ecological challenges," the RCC quoted her as saying.
She added that it was not just about money and markets, but values - democracy, rule of law and human rights.
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