FES: Citizens Believe Serbia Insufficiently Appreciated, Should Turn Inward

Belgrade, street (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

A large portion of Serbian citizens are aware of its progress depending on the well-being of other countries, but a vast majority believe that Serbia did not enjoy the international status that it deserved and that it should turn toward itself and avoid international engagement, according to the results of the “Security Radar 2025” survey of Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).

The goal of the survey, which has been carried out in 14 member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), was to find out what the people think about a range of foreign policy and security issues, and this year’s survey focused mostly on the war in Ukraine and Europe’s response to that conflict.

The survey has shown that, in all the countries, the majority of citizens worry about their future and do not exclude the possibility of new wars. In Serbia, 72 percent of 2,090 interviewed citizens declared this opinion.

Although 63 percent of its citizens are aware of Serbia’s prosperity depending on the well-being of other countries, it is absolutely topping the list according to the number of people (86 percent) who responded affirmatively to the declaration: “My country should concentrate on its own benefit and attempt to avoid interfering in international affairs.” Serbia is also prominent in the sense that a vast majority of its citizens (76 percent) believe that their country did not enjoy the international status that it deserved.