Second annual survey “Political Public Opinion of Montenegro”, December 2019
Citizens’ support for Montenegro’s membership in the European Union (EU) is declining and amounts to 55 percent, and possible reasons are the crisis in which the European Union finds itself, Brexit and the slower process of accession of new members.
This was announced at a press conference on the occasion of presenting the results of the second annual survey “Political Public Opinion of Montenegro”, conducted by the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM) from December 1 to 10, in which a total of 1,009 respondents participated.
The director of CEDEM, Milena Bešić, said that when asked whether Montenegro was on the right path, more citizens who think that Montenegro is going the wrong way, compared to the number of those who think that Montenegro is on the right path.
“46.2 percent of citizens think that they are going the wrong way, 28.2 percent the right way, while 25.6 percent do not know or cannot assess the answer. “When it comes to the trend compared to previous research, the number of citizens who think that Montenegro is on the right path is still decreasing and the number of citizens who think that Montenegro is on the wrong path is increasing,” Besic pointed out at the PR Center.
According to her, the reasons for such data can be found in the scandals that marked the past period, new borrowings, as well as in more aggressive rhetoric on the political scene.
Besic said that, when it comes to evaluating the work of the Government, a larger number of citizens are generally dissatisfied with the work of the Government compared to those who are satisfied.
“10.8 percent of citizens are very satisfied, mostly 18.9 percent are satisfied, while 18.4 percent are mostly dissatisfied and 31.4 percent are very dissatisfied, and 20 percent of citizens have no attitude. In total, about 50 percent are negative, while only 30 percent of citizens are either mostly satisfied or very satisfied, “Besic specified.
“When it comes to citizens’ trust in all institutions, we traditionally have the education system at the forefront, followed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, police, health system, judiciary, army and the Delegation of the European Union, NGOs,” Besic said.
“The government records a certain increase in trust from 32.4 to 36.2 percent, the president from 34.2 to 37 percent, and the Assembly from 32.5 to 33.7 percent.” In general, we are measuring a certain increase in citizens’ trust in political institutions, which is probably at the same level as in December last year, “Besic said.
“Milo Đukanović has the highest score of 2.52, Duško Marković 2.29, Damir Šehović and Aleksa Bečić 2.19, Ivan Brajović 2.06, Dritan Abazović 2.05, and the lowest Andrija Popović 1.53. When it comes to the trend, there is a slight increase when the ratings of Milo Đukanović and Duško Marković are in question, “said Bešić.
When it comes to the evaluation of the work of the ministries, as she stated, the Ministry of Sports and Youth headed by Minister Nikola Janovic was rated the best with 51.9 percent, followed by the Ministry of Education with 49.5 percent, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights 46.6 , The Ministry of Culture 45.7 percent, the Ministry of Science 45.3 percent, and the lowest grade was given to the Ministry of Finance 40 percent.
When it comes to the rating of political parties, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) has the highest trust of citizens 37 percent, followed by Democrats 15 percent, Democratic Front (DF) 13.2 percent, Socialist People’s Party 5.8 percent, Bosniak Party 4.9 “percent, the Social Democrats of Montenegro (SD) 4.8 percent, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) 4.1 percent, the Civic Movement URA 3.7 percent,” Besic said.
“Despite that slight growth since July, that party did not return to the position it had in December last year, when they had 41.5 percent. There has been a slight increase when it comes to the SDP, “said Besic.
CEDEM’s program manager, Ognjen Markovic, said that when asked whether Montenegro should be a member of the EU, 55% of citizens answered that they should, 26% did not, while 19% did not have a definite opinion on this issue.
“When we measure the trend of EU support, a moderate but stable decline in support for EU membership is noticeable. This data represents the historical minimum when we talk about the support of EU citizens from the time when CEDEM started conducting research, “Markovic pointed out.
“First of all, citizens perceive that the situation in the EU is in deep crisis due to Brexit and due to the slower process of accession of new EU members. This may lead to the conclusion of our citizens that Montenegro’s potential EU membership will not be soon,” Markovic said.
Speaking about the support in NATO, Markovic said that 38% of citizens are in favor of NATO membership, 42% are not, and up to 20% of citizens do not have an opinion on that issue.
“When we look at the trend, the interest of citizens in NATO in general has decreased. The society is still divided on this issue, despite Montenegro’s NATO membership. The trend of support is moderately negative, “Markovic said.
He stated that when asked when Montenegro should rely on Russia, the United States or the EU in foreign policy, the largest number of citizens who cannot assess the answer to that question, “followed by the answer that Montenegro should not relies on Russia, the United States and the EU. “
“When we talk about the trend on this issue, we can see that the level of reliance on the United States, Russia and the EU has decreased compared to July,” Markovic said.
He said that they also asked about the attitude of the citizens as it is when it comes to Montenegro’s membership in the EU and the recent discussion on its enlargement that the process will be further slowed down.
“35.8 percent of citizens believe that Montenegro, regardless of the EU’s position, should work intensively to join the EU, 20.2 percent of them believe that Montenegro should think of itself and not deal with these issues, 17 percent of them believes that the EU is in crisis and that it makes no sense to strive for it, 9.9 percent believe that it is justified that the EU has bigger problems than Montenegro’s accession to the community, 9.4 percent have no position, and 7.7 percent that Montenegro needs to look for new international partners “, Markovic specified.
