Around 51 percent of Belgraders have a positive opinion about the European Union, the group being mostly comprised of highly-educated citizens aged 30-45, showed the survey carried out by the Agency for European integration and cooperation with associations which was released on Thursday.

The poll was conducted from August 10 to October 10, 2011. It included 1700 citizens from all 17 municipalities, who voiced their opinion about the EU, the EU integration process and reforms in Serbia.

When asked “Would you vote for Serbia's EU membership in a referendum?”, 44. 54 percent of those questioned said yes, while 30 percent would not back the country's EU entry. To the question “What hinders Serbia's accession to the EU?”, 28 percent of Belgraders answered “the conditions and blackmails which the EU is imposing on Serbia”, while 22.8 percent blamed the country's failure to recognize Kosovo.

However, 23 percent of citizens do not know Serbia's current status in the negotiations on the EU membership, while 41.1 percent said that Serbia is expecting an opinion on its membership bid. Finally, 72.7 percent of those questioned said that the Serbian capital should establish its own office in Brussels that would be a part of the Serbian mission to the EU.