Brussels, 06/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - Seventy-one per cent of Serbian citizens would vote in favour of joining the European Union if the referendum was held - a leap of more than 10 points in a month, according to a survey published on Friday 6 November by the daily newspaper Blic.
Seventy-one per cent of Serbs are in favour of joining the EU, compared to 60% at the beginning of October, reports this survey, which was carried out by the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), an independent observation centre, from a sample of 1600 people. Support for accession to the EU, which reached a 75% in-favour rate in October 2008, had fallen to 60% by October 2009.
This increase in favourable opinions to EU membership comes at a time when Serbian, Macedonian and Montenegrin nationals, will soon be able to visit most of the countries of the Union without a visa. The Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister, Vuk Jeremic, told the European Parliament on Thursday that his country intended to table its application for membership of the EU "by the end of the year" (EUROPE 10013). (L.C./transl.fl)