If a referendum for Montenegro’s membership in the EU was held today, as many as 81% of citizens would support the cause. This has been shown by research on public perceptions and communication of the European integration process.
The survey also shows that for the fourth year in a row, during which the researches have been conducted, citizens’ support for Montenegro’s accession to the European Union has been at a consistently high level. For instance, at the end of last year, 62% of respondents supported the country’s entry into the Union.
The results of the survey were presented by the Minister of European Affairs Aleksandar Andrija Pejovic, the chairwoman of the EU Delegation to Montenegro’s politics department Plamena Halacheva, and the author of the research, Olivera Komar, at the EU Info Centre.
“We have always had a stable trend of about 75% of those who would vote for entering the EU in a referendum. Today we have an increase and even 80.9% of the population would support joining the Union in that referendum,” said minister Pejovic.
Plamena Halacheva said that in this uncertain time a stable level of support for integration was a rare example.
“Thus, Europe is getting an impetus, as well as enlargement policy. Montenegro even has a time-defined accession process. Now we should use this new moment and get together about this goal, which I firmly believe will make the EU and Montenegro a better place,” Hlaceva said.
#MEP @aapejovic na predstavljanju istraživanja mišljenja javnosti o informisanosti građana o evropskoj integraciji #CG: U CG stabilan trend podrške članstvu u #EU! @EUAmbME pic.twitter.com/fdEUO7cnZF
— ME4EU (@me4eu) January 18, 2018
The number of citizens with a positive attitude towards the EU has continued to grow, and now it stands at 63.7%, the highest percentage since 2013, when this survey was conducted for the first time.
The number of citizens who believe that Montenegro will become part of the European Union regardless of their opinion has increased, and now it is 69.4%.
As the main reasons for supporting Montenegro’s entry into the EU citizens cite stability, better quality of life and travel possibilities. On the long run, those who do not support joining the Union point to the crisis in the EU and the refugee crisis as the main reason.
Olivera Komar, @DeFactoMNE: Većini građana Crne Gore (oko 70%) je jasno da je strateški cilj države ulazak u EU! pic.twitter.com/DSgw5NRzr3
— ME4EU (@me4eu) January 18, 2018
Citizens positively perceive the influence of the European Union, so 63.9% believe that EU support to Montenegro is a positive factor, while 29.7% of the population sees it as a negative factor. In this regard, the number of citizens who believe that joining the European Union would use Montenegro (58.5%) is 3.5 times higher than those who think it would harm (17.3%).
The opinion poll was conducted for the needs of the EU Delegation to Montenegro by the Defacto agency in November and December 2017 on a sample of 1,008 respondents.
