Skopje, 24 October 2023 (MIA) - The majority of citizens in the country believe that joining the European Union is a good thing and that the Union is the best alternative for the country. However, the majority also believes that the EU's attitude towards North Macedonia is unfair, superior and extorting.

Speaking at Tuesday's presentation of the Eurometer 2023 survey results, Dimitar Nikolovski from the Eurithink - Center for European Strategies pointed out that despite the growing skepticism regarding North Macedonia's accession to the European Union, 53 percent of the respondents agree that joining the EU is a good thing for the country, compared to 49 percent in 2022, whereas 34 percent of the respondents do not think so. 

Asked "What is the EU's attitude towards North Macedonia?", 55.8 percent of the respondents said the EU's attitude is unfair, superior and extorting (compared to 65 percent in 2022), against 27.5 percent who said the EU's attitude is fair, amicable and correct (compared to 17 percent in 2022).

Also, 60.8 percent of the respondents said the EU is the best alternative for the country, which is an increase of 2 percent compared to 2022, whereas 35.6 percent of the respondents believe that North Macedonia is to be on the lookout for its own development model beyond the EU (compared to 33 percent in 2022). 

A total of 30 percent of respondents think that North Macedonia will never join the EU, while 12 percent believe it will happen in 5 to 9 years. 

Over 56 percent of citizens believe there is no democracy in the country, which is a 5 percent improvement compared to 2022 when 61 percent of respondents gave a negative response to the survey question "Is North Macedonia a democratic state?". 

Eurometer 2023 survey results also show that more than half of the citizens believe that in general, North Macedonia is moving in the wrong direction, against one fifth who said it is moving in a very good direction. This is a drop in general dissatisfaction compared to 2022, when 72 percent of the citizens said that the state is moving in the wrong direction. 

In response to the question "Generally speaking, what is the direction that North Macedonia is moving to?", 54.4 percent responded 1 (completely wrong direction), 8.3 percent said 2, 20.7 percent chose 3, 3 percent said 4, while 12.6 percent said 5 (very good direction). 

When asked "do you consider any state or an international organization to be a threat to North Macedonia?", 48 percent of the respondents said "Yes", whereas 46 percent said "No".

The largest percentage of respondents who see a threat believe that currently it is Bulgaria - 79 percent, followed by Russia - 6.3 percent, Albania - 2.7 percent, and Serbia - 2.4 percent.

Asked "which country or international organization is the greatest friend of North Macedonia?", the majority of respondents - 39.6 percent said Serbia, followed by the United States - 13.7 percent, Türkiye - 10 percent, and the EU - 8.4 percent. 

The Eurometer 2023 survey was conducted by the Brima agency in September 2023 on a representative sample of 1,003 respondents. 

The survey is part of the project "Media for the EU” – Civil society program for the participation of the media in the negotiations for the membership of North Macedonia in the EU. 

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