Survey: Two-thirds of Serbian citizens do not want the recognition of Kosovo to be on the negotiating table

Almost two-thirds of Serbian citizens do not want the recognition of Kosovo's independence to be on the negotiation table between Belgrade and Pristina, and almost a quarter believe that Serbia should regain Kosovo with the support of Russia, the results of the CRTA survey showed, Blic reports.

A fifth of citizens have nothing against Belgrade abandoning negotiations and freezing the conflict with Pristina, even though it blocks European integration.

Also, there is no majority support for any model for the solution to the Kosovo issue that has been mentioned in public so far, not even for the return of Kosovo with the help of Russia.

As expected, only a fifth of citizens would accept that Serbia and Kosovo recognize each other within the "existing borders" and become members of the EU. Even less, only 17 percent support the Franco-German proposal for the solution of the Kosovo issue according to the “Two Germanys model”. The division of Kosovo has even less support because only 16 percent of citizens would accept it.
Vojislav Mihailovic, one of the authors of the survey and head of public opinion research at CRTA, tried to explain the contradictory views of citizens.

"Citizens are aware that they are not sufficiently informed about the negotiation process, but that does not mean that they do not want to be asked about possible solutions. The messages sent by both the Serbian and Kosovo sides were often tailored to internal political needs and often were not directed toward a solution to the problems. It is normal to expect that citizens' views on this matter will be contradictory", Mihailovic analyzes for "Blic".

Mihailovic also finds reasons why the great majority of citizens want negotiations with Pristina without a time limit.

"It is possible that in the absence of options that they are in favor of, and which they consider at least somewhat realistic, the closest option to the citizens is the continuation of negotiations in the hope that in the future a less unfavorable solution than the annexation of Kosovo will be found," Mihailovic concludes.