If a referendum were to be held tomorrow with the question "Do you support Serbia’s membership to the EU?", 49% of Serbian citizens would be in favour, 27% would be against, 13% would not vote, and 11% would not know what to answer. These are the results of the latest public opinion poll called European Orientation of Serbian Citizens that was conducted by the Ministry of European Integration in June 2017. The poll was carried out in compliance with the Eurobarometer standard, and 1,064 respondents older than 18 took part in it.
As in the previous years, support for the reforms is very high. Out of the total number of respondents, 66% of them are of the opinion that the reforms necessary for the EU accession of our country should be implemented regardless of the accession itself, for the wellbeing of the citizens and for creating a better regulated Serbian state.
Public health system reform (16%), fight against corruption (15%), judiciary reform (15%), agricultural reform (11%) and education reform (11%) are the reforms citizens consider the most important and to have the greatest influence on their everyday life. After these, the next on the list of important reforms are consumer protection reform (9%), environmental protection reform (7%) and better protection of human rights (7%).
The majority of the citizens, 59%, believe that the issues between Belgrade and Pristina should be resolved regardless of whether the EU requires it, which means that more than a half of respondents supports the commitment of the Government of the Republic of Serbia to continue the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and its readiness to reach sustainable solutions through dialogue.
For the majority of the citizens interviewed, EU membership means more opportunities for employment (17%), a road to a better future of youth (16%), a possibility of freer movement within EU borders (14%), and an opportunity to internally regulate our country (12%).
As regards the grant development assistance Serbia has received since 2000, 23 percent of the respondents recognise that the EU has been the largest aid donor to our country in the last 16 years, 22 percent believe that it is Russia, 21 percent of the population opted for China, while Japan is in the fourth place with 11 percent. Official data shows that, in the period 2000-2015, the European Union and its Member States were the biggest donors with around EUR 2.7 billion of donated funds, by which they significantly contributed to the development of Serbia.
The public opinion poll for June 2017 can be downloaded here.
