TMCnet News
Majority of Montenegrins support referendum on NATO membershipBELGRADE, Jul 20, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The majority of Montenegrins support the idea of a referendum to decide whether this tiny Balkan nation should join NATO, according to the latest poll by the Center for Democratic Transition (CEDEM), reported the Serbian daily "Politika" on Tuesday. The poll indicated that 68 percent stated that NATO membership should be decided in a referendum, while only six percent said they thought parliament should resolve the issue. According to Milos Besovic, a researcher with CEDEM, opposition to NATO membership remains strong, at 40 percent, while support for the military alliance lags at 32 percent. Nonetheless, a trend toward growing support has been observed since the low of 26 percent reported two years ago. "We know two things -- first, that there are still more people who are opposed than for, but that in the past two years there is a reduction in the numbers of those who are against and an increase in the numbers of those who support NATO integration," said Besovic. Interestingly, although most of those polled indicated they were unlikely to vote for NATO membership, the majority nonetheless thought Montenegro would become a NATO member. "This is probably because they experience this as the sort of project they cannot resist, something that happens automatically, a political necessity, that the internal and external factors are too strong for citizens alone to resist these processes, "said Besovic. Furthermore, about 37 percent of Montenegrin citizens said they thought NATO membership would undermine relations with Serbia and Russia. Over 50 percent of the respondents said they expected it would lead to a positive relationship with the United States. |