site.btaBulgarians Support Western Balkans' EU Integration - Survey

Sofia, May 15 (BTA) - Bulgarians support the EU integration of the Western Balkans countries and believe it will benefit this country if they become part of the European family, shows a survey of the Trend Research Centre. It was commissioned by "24 Chassa" and is representative of the adult population. It was conducted between May 2 and 10 among 1,009 adult Bulgarians.

The survey shows that 61 per cent support the accession of the Western Balkans countries to the EU and only 16 per cent hold the opposite opinion. Nearly one in four opted for don't know or can't say.

Obviously, Bulgarians consider the integration of the Western Balkans a matter of national interest, the researchers said.

Half of the respondents said Bulgaria would benefit from such a move and just 18 per cent were of the opposite opinion. Likewise, 52 per cent said the accession of the countries in the region would be a positive development for Bulgaria.

Bulgarians are optimistic about the European perspective of the Western Balkans over the next ten years, the analysts say. Forty-three per cent expect them to join the EU in the next ten years and 18 per cent are of the opposite opinion. The share of those who don't know or can't say is 39 per cent.

Fifty-eight per cent of Bulgarians said Bulgaria must help the Western Balkan countries to join the EU and 45 per cent said it is incapable to do so.

Trend also tested the attitude to the EU integration of the individual countries.

The accession of Macedonia (70 per cent) and Serbia (67 per cent) garnered the strongest support, mostly due to their cultural and religious similarities to Bulgaria. The least support was expressed for Albania (45 per cent) and Kosovo (42 per cent). Still, the respondents in favour of their EU accession outnumber those who do not.

Regarding the main institutions in Bulgaria, the survey did not register considerable changes in public attitudes. Approval of the Ombudsman grew further, reaching 66 per cent. The President has the second highest approval rating of 63 per cent. The police and the prosecution service gained 5 per cent approval, most probably due to the arrest of the mayor of Sofia's Mladost borough on corruption charges.

No dynamics were registered in the electoral attitudes for yet another month. GERB is backed by 22.8 per cent of respondents, followed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party with 19.1 per cent. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is third with 6.4 per cent and the United Patriots get 5.3 per cent. The Democratic Bulgaria coalition, which was set up recently by Yes Bulgaria, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and the Greens, was ranked fifth with 2.3 per cent as the analysts summed up the scores of the individual parties.