Macedonians view Serbia as friendliest neighboring state

Macedonians view Serbia as friendliest neighboring state

Kosovo, which is treated separately, is chosen by two percent of those who took part in the poll. Serbia is followed by Albania (14.3 percent), Bulgaria (11.2 percent), and Greece (1.1 percent).

The results also show that eight to ten percent of Macedonian citizens think a neighboring state is being hostile toward their country, while 58.4 percent said that good neighborly relations were "very important."

Ten percent think no neighbor is hostile toward Macedonia, while 59 percent named Greece, which has been blocking Skopje's Euro-Atlantic integrations because of the name dispute.

Greece is followed by Albania (11.3 percent), Serbia (5.7 percent), Bulgaria (3.1 percent).

According to the same survey, Macedonians are least prejudiced toward Bulgaria (4.7 percent) and most toward Greece (41.5 percent). In between are Kosovo (7.2 percent), Serbia (7.5 percent), and Albania (21.5 percent).

When it comes to which neighbor's history and culture they are most familiar with, 47.4 percent picked Serbia, followed by Albania (16.5 percent) and Bulgaria (8.3 percent) - while 13.7 percent said "none."

Asked to react to the statement that "all countries in the region share common history to a significant degree," 41.6 percent of respondents took a positive stance, while 58.3 were negative.

The telephone poll was conducted from June 27 to July 3 and included a representative sample of 1,000 respondents.