The percentage of citizens in Bulgaria who think that a “yes” should be given to the start of the negotiations between North Macedonia and the EU without a prior agreement on the open issues is increasing. This is the opinion of 29.6 percent of the respondents, which is an increase of about 13 percent compared to November 2020, shows the public opinion poll conducted by Alfa Research, presented during the famous weekly commentary show “Referendum” on the Bulgarian National Television dedicated to the Bulgarian-Macedonian relations.
According to the survey, almost 61 percent of Bulgarian citizens think that the Republic of North Macedonia should become a member of the European Union. In response to the question – what is the fundamental interest of Bulgaria for the membership of the RNM in the EU, if the disputed issues are left aside, 60.9 percent of Bulgarians said that the country should become a member of the Union, as opposed to 32.2 percent of respondents who said that North Macedonia should not become a member of the EU.
As to the question – whether Bulgaria should say “yes” to the start of the negotiations in North Macedonia without reaching an agreement on the open issues, 29.6 percent of the respondents said “yes”, which is an increase of about 13 percent compared to the responses given in the survey in November 2020, when 16.9 percent responded affirmatively. Of those surveyed, 69 percent think that negotiations should not be allowed without resolving the open issues. In November 2020, this percentage was 81.1.
The majority of those surveyed, as well as Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, believe that the current government positions should be upgraded. The survey of Alfa Research also showed that 61.9 percent of the respondents believe that the new governments of Bulgaria and North Macedonia should maintain their current positions, but also upgrade them in order to unblock the negotiations of North Macedonia with the EU.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
