Public Attitudes towards the EU in the Western Balkans

• In Event: Central Europe

Abstract

This paper analyzes public opinion towards the European Union (EU) in the Western Balkans. Although public support for the EU was generally high across the region in the early 2000s, it nevertheless varied across Western Balkan countries. Moreover, the recent trend towards euroscepticism in the region has also been markedly uneven. Opinion poll data show that while publics in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and especially Serbia have turned significantly more eurosceptic over time, the same has not been true for Albania and Kosovo. This paper uses extensive survey data from Balkan Barometer to investigate cross-country variation in public attitudes towards the EU. It relies on existing scholarship, archival material, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) reports, to explain the main causes of this variation. While the existing scholarship has emphasized utilitarian factors and the timing and impact of the integration process, this paper highlights the crucial importance of identity politics, particularly the process of identity convergence or divergence. To understand the dynamics of EU integration in the Western Balkans, as well as the increased assertiveness of Russia in the region, a better understanding of local public attitudes towards the EU is needed.

Authors

• Pëllumb Kelmendi, Auburn University

• Liridon Lika, University of Liège