The European Union is synonymous with peace and security and the citizens realize this, said the vice director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms Mihai Mogîldea, referring to the data of the IPRE poll that was presented earlier this week. According to the poll, 60% of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova want the country to join the European Union. Mihai Mogîldea said this tendency is influenced by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine as the Moldovans perceive the EU as a space in which peace and security of the people are ensured, IPN reports.
The opinion poll “Citizens’ perception of the European integration process in the Republic of Moldova” was conducted by the Institute for European Policies and Reforms in cooperation with CBS-AXA. The poll shows that 59.2% of the citizens support Moldova’s accession to the EU. In an eventual referendum on Moldova’s entry into the EU, 55.4% of the citizens would vote “for”, while 30.6% would vote “against”. Also, over 51% of the respondents consider Moldova will become a member of the EU over the next ten years.
“There is a group of citizens who place the equality sign between the pro-European parties and the European integration process. So, when the pro-European parties see a rise or a decline in polls, the support for the process of joining the European Union also changes. The people today, given Russia’s war against Ukraine, want the country to become part of the European Union so that they enjoy safe living conditions. Peace and security become an imperative for a better life and today the European Union is indeed synonymous with peace, security, safety of citizens,” IPRE vice director Mihai Mogîldea stated in the talk show “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei station.
Some 49.5% of the respondents of the poll said the EU is the main development partner of Moldova. The EU is followed by Russia with 28% and Turkey with 21.3%. Also, the poll shows that a large part of the citizens benefit from EU-funded projects implemented in their localities.
“The ambassador of the European Union said that over the past two years, we received about €1.2 billion in assistance. If we analyze the past ten years at least, I think this assistance will total about €3 billion. When we look at the poll results, it is pleasant to see that almost half of the citizens know about one or two projects financed by the European Union in their localities, during the past five years. We asked them to enumerate the areas to which these projects refer. Most of them mentioned road repair and building, repair of kindergartens and schools, and public lighting,” said the IPRE vice director.
The IPRE poll was carried out during June 13-28, 2023 and covered all the country’s regions, except for the Transnistrian region, and 1,120 respondents aged 18 and more. Its margin of sampling error was +/- 3%.
