Globsec Survey: Support for EU and NATO Membership in Slovakia Up from Last Year

Bratislava, May 4 (TASR) - Some 70 percent of Slovaks support Slovakia's membership of the European Union (EU) and NATO, according to the results of the latest survey presented by the Globsec think-tank earlier this week, adding that support grew when compared to 2023. The survey was carried out at the turn of March and April on a sample of 1,000 respondents. In 2023, Slovaks' support for NATO membership stood at 58 percent, but it was 11 percentage points higher in the latest survey. Concerning EU membership, support grew from 64 to 72 percent. "The rapid fall in support for EU and NATO membership in Slovakia in 2023 was probably caused by the political campaign ahead of the general election. The campaign was in place practically from the beginning of the year, with many political representatives using the EU and NATO as topics to spread disinformation. There has been less disinformation this year, and people have returned to the certainties of foreign cooperation with Western partners," explained Katarina Klingova, a co-author of the Globsec Trends report. Some 30 percent of Slovaks would like to see Ukraine become a member of Western institutions, which is the lowest figure in the region. Some 40 percent of respondents in Slovakia think that Russia is primarily responsible for the war in Ukraine, while 51 percent blame the West or Ukraine itself for it. In addition to Slovakia, the survey was carried out in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. ko/df