The majority of Croatian citizens support further enlargement of the European Union (EU), and they support Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) accession the most, according to the results of a special Eurobarometer on enlargement published by the Commission on Tuesday.
As many as 61 percent of respondents in Croatia support further enlargement, at the EU level 56 percent, they believe that candidate countries should join the EU after fulfilling the necessary conditions, and consider that it is beneficial for their own country.
The greatest support for further enlargement was recorded in Sweden, 78 percent, Denmark, 75 percent, and Lithuania, 74 percent. The least inclined to enlargement are the French and Czechs, 43 percent, Austrians, 45 percent, and Germans, 49 percent.
Croatian citizens are the most inclined toward enlargement to BiH, 74 percent of respondents, and at the EU level, 48 percent.
After BiH, Croatian citizens most support the accession of Montenegro, 69 percent, then Ukraine, 66 percent, and Kosovo, 62 percent. Serbia has the least support from Croatian citizens, at 51 percent.
At the EU level, the greatest support is for Ukraine, 52 percent, and Montenegro, 51 percent.
The survey was conducted in the period between February and June this year, through personal interviews in member states as well as in candidate and potential candidate countries.
Among candidate countries, the greatest support for joining the EU is shown by citizens of Albania, 91 percent, followed by North Macedonia, 69 percent. The least support for joining the EU was recorded in Serbia, 33 percent.
In eastern neighbors, the greatest support for joining the EU was recorded in Georgia, 74 percent, where a pro-Russian party is in power, and in Ukraine, 68 percent.
The most positive image of the EU is in Albania, 82 percent, and the weakest is in Serbia, where 38 percent of respondents have a positive view of the EU. In Ukraine, 49 percent of respondents have a positive view of the EU, in Moldova, 55 percent, and in Georgia, 43 percent.
Interestingly, 49.9 percent of respondents in Turkey support their country’s membership in the EU, and 50.7 percent of them have a positive view of the EU.
