Skopje, 18 December 2023 (MIA) – The level of support for EU membership among the citizens in 2023 is the lowest it has ever been, said Marko Troshanovski from the Institute for Democracy "Societas Civilis" - Skopje (IDSCS) on Monday, noting that despite this, Euroscepticism hasn’t increased, but the majority of citizens remain undecided on the issue.

At a promotion of “Analysis of public opinion on North Macedonia’s access to the European Union (2014 – 2023)” and “EU integrations in the shadow of the internal processes – Public opinion analysis for 2023”, Troshanovski said that according to the latest public opinion research, the support for membership is currently at 60 percent.

Troshanovski noted that there is a growing gap between the ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians in terms of their support for EU membership, however, he stressed, the majority of both ethnicities support EU membership.

“Even though support for the EU is dropping, we still can’t say that Euroscepticism is growing. The majority of citizens become undecided on the issue, but aren’t explicitly against,” said Troshanovski at the promotion of the two analyses in Skopje.

According to Troshanovski, the citizens expect the EU integration process to only be dependent on the fulfillment of the bilateral demands of neighboring countries.

“The support for EU accession among some of the citizens includes the fact that we as a country must make certain concessions, over which there is awareness among the population that, even though they are unpopular, they must be made in order to make a step forward,” added Troshanovski.

He pointed out that fewer people see the European Union as the most influential party in North Macedonia, however, this is balanced with the support for the EU as the country’s most preferred ally. The majority of citizens see the EU as the country’s best ally.

Thirty percent of citizens are undecided on whether they want to see the country join the EU or not.

“One of the key aspects of the reduced support are the reduced expectations and the disappointment of the citizens by the implementation of reforms, such as the recent case with the Report of the European Commission. The ethnic gap is mostly due to the bilateral issues that affect the identity of the Macedonian community, and the reserve towards EU membership is growing among them,” said Troshanovski.

According to the survey, 65 percent of respondents believe that the amendments to the Criminal Code were adopted to protect the political elites from past criminal acts.

The survey was carried out during November 2023, on a nationally representative sample consisting of 1000 respondents. It was organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje.

Photo: MIA