The Directorate for European Integration (DEI) conducted a public opinion poll on support for the accession of BiH to the EU, according to which, in the event of a referendum, 75.6 percent of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina would support EU membership.
The survey was conducted in October last year on a sample of 1.200 respondents, which is representative at the level of the entire BiH.
EU membership is supported by 87 percent of respondents from the Federation of BiH, 55 percent of respondents from Republika Srpska, and 83.6 percent of respondents from Brcko District, the Directorate announced.
As reasons for supporting BiH’s entry into the EU, the respondents stated the guarantee of lasting peace and political stability (33.2 percent), freedom of movement of people, goods, and capital (26 percent), and respect for laws and regulations (18.4 percent).
Respondents who do not support BiH’s entry into the EU (41.7 percent) mentioned fear of higher living costs and taxes as the most common reason for this opinion.
47.6 percent of respondents said that young people will benefit the most from BiH’s membership in the EU, while 23.5 percent of citizens answered that those will be the politicians.
When asked what reform is necessary to improve the everyday life of citizens of BiH, 51.2 percent of respondents mentioned the anti-corruption fight, 21.5 percent believe that the reform of courts and prosecutors offices is necessary, and 7.7 percent think that a reform of the social system is needed.
54.3 percent of respondents believe that the main obstacle to BiH’s integration into the EU is the politicization of the integration process, which is 10.9 percent more than in the last year.
More than a third of respondents (38.4 percent) believe that BiH will never join the EU, while 29.2 percent of citizens think that it will become an EU member in a maximum of ten years.
A total of 48.2 percent of respondents stated that there is no alternative to the European path of BiH has, while 35.7 percent of respondents believe that there is.
28.1% of respondents believe that BiH will never receive candidate status for EU membership, 22.3% think that it will happen in a maximum of five years, while 17.4% of citizens believe that BiH will receive candidate status in a maximum of one year.
Information on the results of the public opinion poll called “Attitudes of citizens toward EU membership and the process of integration into the EU” was adopted at a session of the Council of Ministers of BiH held on Thursday.
