Support for Serbia’s EU membership declines

BELGRADE -- Support for Serbia's EU membership has further declined, Serbian government's Office for EU Integration Director Milica Delević stated on Friday.

Milica Delević (Tanjug, file)

She pointed out that currently only 53 percent of citizens were in favor of EU accession.

Delević added that the support to the reform process, which was a part of the EU path, was strengthening.

“The surveys carried out from June 16 - 23 showed that if a referendum were run including the question: “Do you support Serbia's EU accession?”, 53 percent of the Serbian citizens would respond positively, 24 percent would say no, while others would sustain from voting or would not know the answer,” she told a press conference presenting the results of the latest public opinion polls on support to the EU accession.

Delević said that the support to the EU accession was weaker than earlier, but that the current level was still high.

She pointed out that that the support was weakening as the accession process was making progress, given that the citizens had become aware not only of the benefits but also of the expenses, and the fact that they had to change or give up on something.

A poll conducted in May showed that 55 percent of Serbians supported the country's possible future EU membership.