Deutsche Presse-Agentur
July 28, 2004, Wednesday
Majority of Lithuanians would welcome further E.U. expansion
Vilnius
More than 60 per cent of Lithuania’s population welcome further
expansion of the European Union according to a new poll, the Foreign
Ministry reported Wednesday. The ministry cited a survey carried out
by Vilmorus public opinion and market research centre in mid-July.
“Two thirds of Lithuanian population are in favour of the expansion
of the European Union,” the survey published Tuesday said. According
to the poll, some 62 per cent of respondents supported expanding the
E.U., while 12 per cent were against and the remaining 24.8 percent
were undecided. Ukraine topped the list of countries that would be
welcomed as new members in the current 25-member bloc. Lithuanians
also supported E.U. membership for Turkey, Croatia, Moldova and
Georgia in the near future, but were more reluctant regarding the
accession of neighbouring Belarus, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan
in the near future. The Baltic republic joined the E.U. on May 1.
Main sceptics included people between 40-49 years of age, those with
university education, and people living in Lithuania’s five largest
municipalities. Some 1,005 Lithuanian residents aged 18 and over were
polled in 18 cities and 58 villages. The margin of error was 3 per
cent. dpa egs pw