Over Half of Moldovans Oppose Country's Accession to NATO, Survey Reveals

CHISINAU (Sputnik) - Over half of Moldovans are against the idea of the country joining NATO, a survey conducted by SBS-Reseаrch by order of the public organization Watch.Dog, close to the republic’s authorities, said on Thursday.

If a referendum on Moldova's accession to NATO was held next Sunday, then 26.9% of Moldovan citizens would support membership in the alliance, for comparison, 24% of respondents said the same in January. Meanwhile, 55.5% of Moldovans are convinced the country should not join NATO, compared to 62% a month earlier. About 17% remained undecided, while, in January, this figure amounted to 14%.

The survey was conducted from February 24-March 3 among 1,000 people. The maximum polling error is 3.1%.

In January, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, in an interview with the Politico newspaper, said the country should abandon neutrality in order to be admitted to a military alliance. Sandu did not specifically mention NATO but had repeatedly stated that the neutrality clause of the constitution could be revised if Moldovans decide they want rapprochement with NATO.

According to the constitution of Moldova, the republic has neutral status, but since 1994 the country has been cooperating with NATO within the framework of an individual partnership plan. There is a NATO information center in the Moldovan capital. A bureau for relations with the alliance has been operating since 2017.