TIRANA, July 16 – The Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) with the support of Hans Seidel Stiftung (HSS) conducted a national survey to analyze the perceptions of Albanian citizens regarding the prospect of EU membership. The results revealed that the majority of Albanian citizens continue to seek EU membership, although unclear of how the process takes place. This is mainly related to the distribution of information and the role of media in process, which the survey also addresses.
The survey was conducted throughout April and May, shortly after Albania and North Macedonia were given green light to the opening of EU accession, thus reflecting a deeper perspective of respondents, as well as taking into consideration the EU 15 conditions which Albania has to meet prior to the first Intergovernmental Conference.
Albania as a member in the EU
In case of a referendum about Albania’s membership in the EU, 86 percent of Albanian citizens would vote for it, only 7 percent would vote against and 7 percent expressed that they were uncertain about their decision. According to the Executive Director of AIIS, Alba Cela, the amount of citizens who support EU has not fluctuated throughout the years, as results show that the rate has been kept above the 80 percent line.
However, a staggering 46 percent believe that Albania is not ready to become an EU member yet, while 38 of respondents think that it is. Although with only a relatively small difference, the results may indicate that citizens continue to view lack of progress as regards efforts towards EU integration in the country. Only 16 percent of citizens from the respondents did not know how to answer.
In this line, half of Albanian citizens do not support the idea of Albania joining the EU at a time when it not ready, while 31 percent do.
The negotiating process
The survey results point out that a majority of Albanian citizens are unclear about the negotiating process as regards the necessary steps and the timeline of the process.
Almost half of the respondents answered that Albania will become a member of the EU in five years, which is quite unlikely considering the conditions that Albania has to meet prior to negotiations and during the process. The results are followed by a 38 percent who believe that Albania will join the EU in 10 years while 12 percent are unsure.
Overall, optimism can be observed in the results of the survey, as only 4 percent of respondents believe that Albania will never be able to join the European Union.
Furthermore, a majority of citizens are not clear about the EU 15 conditions which Albania has to fulfill before the first Intergovernmental Conference. Although aware of the conditions, almost half of respondents do not know the specifics and content of the conditions and 16 percents have no knowledge of them. Only 32 percent know what the specific conditions are, while 5 percent could not give an answer.
When asked about the time frame in which these conditions will be met, 30 percent believed that Albania will fulfill the EU conditions after 2022 and 23 percent think that it will happen within 2022. These results once again show that there is a general lack of knowledge about the negotiating and integration process.
Role of the media
The survey revealed that the majority of citizens (33 percent) receive information on the EU and Albania’s integration process through Television and 26 percent do so via Internet. Moreover, 12 percent receive information by conversing with their friends, while newspapers play a less significant role in informing citizens on the matter; only 11 percent answer that they receive information. The radio and EU information centers play are considered even less significant by the respondents, as only 6 percent and 5 percent refer to these sources, respectively.
According to Ledion Krisafi, Executive Director of Tirana Center for Journalistic Excellence, the role of the Albanian media needs to be more independent. It currently deals with the topic of EU integration based solely in the context of political discourse and statements by political parties rather than clearly presenting the audience with the conditions, timeline and steps to be followed.
