(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Serbia want their country to enter the European Union (EU), according to a poll by Strategic Marketing & Media Research Institute. 74.9 per cent of respondents share this opinion, up 5.6 points since June 2007.

The remnants of the Yugoslav Federation were transformed into Serbia and Montenegro in February 2003. Following the Balkan war, Kosovo was established as an independent part of Serbia under the protection of the United Nations (UN) and NATO. In 2006, Montenegro became an independent state with full international and legal subjectivity.

Serbia has filed a bid to become a member of the EU, but the final status of Kosovo within Serbia—as well as the fact that Serbia has been accused of not cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)—have hampered the process to this day.

Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian government has said it will unilaterally declare independence from Serbia on Feb. 17. The EU has announced it will send a mission with police officers and justice workers to Kosovo to observe how events unfold.

Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica opposes the EU’s positions on Kosovo and refuses to sign any cooperation agreement with the continental group as long as it recognizes any type of independence for Kosovo. Serbian president Boris Tadic—who was re-elected this month to a new five-year term—supports maintaining ties with the EU in spite of its policies on Kosovo.

On Feb. 11, a group of Serbian students staged a street rally against Kostunica’s anti-EU policies, saying, "Down with Kostunica, Down with New Milosevic."

Polling Data

Do you support or oppose Serbia’s accession into the European Union (EU)?

Source: Strategic Marketing & Media Research Institute
Methodology: Interviews with 1,041 Serb adults, conducted from Jan. 21 to Jan. 23, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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