67 percent of Montenegrin citizens would vote for Montenegro to remain in NATO, while 33 percent would vote for the country's withdrawal from the alliance, according to the latest NATO report, which was made in April and May this year to meet the recent Alliance summit.
These data suggest that support for NATO in Montenegro is growing, especially when you take into account the fact that the NATO survey from 2020 showed that only 50 percent of citizens would vote to stay in the Alliance.
The latest report assessed that support for NATO is consistently high among all member states. Despite the growing support of the Montenegrin population, our country is still in a rather low position in this segment, in the penultimate place, while Slovakia is in the last place – 61% of the citizens of that country support membership, which is the lowest score among allies.
Contrary to the growth recorded in the part related to the support for the membership in the Alliance, the report also records a slightly lower percentage of the readiness of the Montenegrin population to defend another NATO member if it is attacked. 42 percent of citizens believe that Montenegro should defend another member if it is attacked, while 33 percent oppose the idea.
TRANSATLANTIC CONNECTION
Among all members of the Alliance, support for the claim that the transatlantic link between NATO and North America is important for general security is the lowest in Montenegro and amounts to 52 percent, while a high percentage of 23 percent believe that the NATO-North America link is not so important for a better security situation.
Despite that, 60 percent of citizens agree with the assessment that transatlantic cooperation can bring progress in the field of security, while 10 percent believe that this connection would lead to its disruption.
In addition, 56 percent of citizens support the idea of the need for stronger transatlantic cooperation between member states, and 12 percent of respondents are in favor of reducing cooperation.
RUSSIA AND CHINA LESS POPULAR
A percentage of 41 percent of citizens within the members of the Alliance are not in favor of Russia, while 18 percent have a positive attitude towards it, the research showed. Citizens of NATO members, 40 percent of them, assessed that the attitude towards Russia is more negative than it was a year ago, and 19 percent perceive it with more sympathy than 12 months ago.
When it comes to China, 67 percent of the citizens of NATO member countries consider Chinese influence and its power worrying. This contributes to the fact that 41 percent of respondents across the alliance do not cultivate sympathy for China, and such a trend has recorded increased growth over the past year.
Stoltenberg: Strong support
Commenting on the findings of the research, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assessed that “there is strong, broad support for NATO and the transatlantic alliance, both in Europe and in North America.”
It is expected, he said, that support varies.
– But even in those countries where we have the least support, it is strong support for NATO. Eg. in Slovakia, that support is the lowest, but it is still 61 percent. That is less compared to, for example, Albania, where that support is 95 percent. But 61% of “for” versus 39% of those who would like to leave the alliance, that is the vast majority – Stoltenberg explained at the press conference before the summit. Still, he says he would like to see even stronger support for the alliance.
– So, even in the countries with the least support, we have strong support. So, the message is very clear, that no matter what opinion poll we conduct, no matter which country we turn to, there is great and ongoing support for our alliance, and I take that as proof of the fact that people understand that we are safer together than alone. Stoltenberg concluded.