Globsec Poll: Majority of Slovaks Support Slovakia's Membership of NATO and EU

Bratislava, May 17 (TASR) - The majority of Slovaks support Slovakia's membership of both the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union (EU), with membership of both associations being supported by more than 70 percent, according to the Globsec Trends 2025 poll of public opinion in nine countries in Eastern and Central Europe. "Another question asked was whether the respondents would defend their country if it were attacked by a foreign state. Here we can see that yes, in most countries this is the case. Slovakia is an exception in this region, where only 49 percent of Slovak respondents would go out and defend their country if it was attacked by a foreign state. This is a huge disparity, especially when we compare it with Poland, where the willingness to defend one's country is at 84 percent," said analyst at Globsec's Centre for Democracy and Resilience Katarina Klingova. The survey found that within the region, 73 percent of the people polled think that their country should increase defence spending, while in Slovakia it was 63 percent of the respondents. At the same time, more than two-thirds of the Slovak respondents agreed with the introduction of voluntary military service. This compares with 89 percent in Poland. The data also showed that the majority of people in Slovakia and in the region think that democracy is good for the country. However, about 43 percent of the respondents think that democracy doesn't exist and that the world is secretly controlled by elites. This is slightly below average when compared to all countries surveyed. Russia is perceived as a threat in Slovakia by half of the respondents, according to the survey. am/df/lin