Over 70% of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina support the country's entry into the EU, but less than 50% of the inhabitants of the Bosnian Republika Srpska are in favor of joining the European Union, according to a survey by the Directorate for European integration of Bosnia, quoted by HINA agency.
After the end of the inter-ethnic war in Bosnia (1992 – 1995) the country was divided into two semi-autonomous parts – Republika Srpska, populated mostly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Muslim-Croat Federation (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), where Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats live. Each part has its own government, parliament and police, but the two parts are connected through common state-level institutions, cited by BTA.
For the entire country, support for European integration is at the level of 71.2%, according to data released yesterday from a telephone poll conducted in June among 1,200 respondents.
This support is stronger in the Muslim-Croat Federation, where 83.8% of respondents are in favor of the country's entry into the EU.
Euroscepticism is evident in Republika Srpska, where only 48.3% of its citizens would vote “yes” on a possible referendum on Bosnia's entry into the EU.
In the Brčko district, which is a special administrative unit within Bosnia and Herzegovina, 75% of citizens would support joining the EU.
It is the only place to show a rise in support for European integration compared to a survey conducted last year, while a drop in support of around two percentage points was recorded in both the Muslim-Croat Federation and Republika Srpska.< /p>
About 40% of those polled believe Bosnia will join the EU in ten years, while almost 25% think the country will never join the bloc.
Bosnia and Herzegovina received the status of a candidate country for EU membership in 2022, and at the end of 2023 it received a conditional “green light” to start negotiations when the necessary level of compliance with the membership criteria is achieved.