BRUSSELS – The trust in the European Union is still higher in the majority of Western Balkan countries than in the EU itself. With the exception of Serbia, more than 60% of people in the region believe that membership in the EU would be a good thing, according to the Autumn Eurobarometer 2024 survey, which was published today.
The survey was conducted in September in October in the EU and the candidate countries. It showed that, on average, 51% of Europeans tend to trust the EU, the highest result since 2007.
When it comes to the trust in the EU in the Western Balkans Six, the highest score is reported in Albania – 81%. Also, 83% of Albanian citizens believe that EU membership would be a good thing. These results are followed by Montenegro, where 75% of people tend to trust the EU, and 71% of them believe that the EU membership would be a good thing, and Kosovo, where 70% of people tend to trust the EU, while 65% believe that the EU membership would be a good thing.
Similarly, in North Macedonia and BiH, 56% of people tend to trust the EU. In addition, 63% of citizens of North Macedonia believe that the EU membership would be a good thing, while the same opinion is expressed by 55% of people in BIH.
On the other hand, only 38% of citizens of Serbia tend to trust the EU, whereas 56% tend not to trust it, and 32% believe that the EU membership would be a good thing, while 30% stated it would be a bad thing, and 38% consider it to be neither good nor bad.
When it comes to the economic situation, citizens of Montenegro and Kosovo have the most positive assessments – 75% of citizens of Kosovo and 61% of citizens of Montenegro describe their economy as good.
In Serbia, 44% of citizens have the same opinion, while in BiH the situation is slightly worse – 41% of citizens believe that the state of economy is good. Finally, the same results are reported in Albania and North Macedonia, where 40% of citizens describe it as good.
In the EU, 39% of citizens on average say that the situation of their country’s economy is good, while 60% say it is bad.