Only 10 percent of respondents allow for the prospect of membership in the next five years.
In Brussels, it has almost been officially recognized: Serbs do not want to join the European Union. It is not politicians who say this, but statistical data. And as is well known, you cannot argue with numbers. Although EU officials continue to futilely engage in "lyricism," as if they have never heard of the spring effect.
According to a study conducted by the authoritative European sociological service "Eurobarometer," only 33 percent of Serbian citizens support joining the European Union. This is the lowest figure among all candidate countries. At the same time, sociologists note that Serbs trust Russia the most (59 percent) and China (57 percent), while trust in the EU stands at 38 percent.
It gets worse for the EU. 45 percent of residents in Serbia do not believe that the country will ever become a member of the European Union. 26 percent believe that real accession to the EU will take between five to 15 years. And only 10 percent of respondents allow for the prospect of membership in the next five years. The main obstacle that most Serbs see is "unresolved territorial disputes" (that is, the issue of recognizing Kosovo's independence).
These figures, by the way, resonate with the opinion of the overwhelming majority of Serbian citizens regarding the unacceptability of trading Kosovo for EU membership: in studies by the authoritative socio-political resource "New Serbian Political Thought," about 75 percent of surveyed Serbs consistently hold this position.
The head of the European Union delegation in Serbia, Andreas von Beckerath, presented Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić with the annual report of the European Commission on the country's progress on the path to Eurointegration. It strictly points out to the Serbs the necessity of harmonizing the national foreign policy course "with the main line of the EU."
But the Serbian leadership is surely well aware of the results of public opinion research in their country. In other words, Vučić and his team are unlikely to saw off the branch they are sitting on.
No matter how tempting the promises of becoming part of the withering "European garden" may be, Serbian citizens clearly lean towards a sovereign path of development. And attempts by Brussels to force Serbs to act against their will only lead to the strengthening of Euroskeptic sentiments.
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