Majority support for NATO membership

More than half of Montenegrin citizens would vote to stay in NATO (51 percent), while a third (33 percent) would vote to leave, and the rest did not know how to answer, according to the results of a public opinion survey before the start of the Summit in Madrid.

If only determined respondents in Montenegro were counted, the support would be 61 percent, compared to 39 percent of those who would vote to leave, the document states.

At the level of all 30 member states, support for membership is 72 percent, or 84 percent if only committed respondents are counted. The alliance announced that the results of the survey show a "historically high level of support for NATO".

General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg he said at the press conference that significant decisions will be made at the Summit in Madrid, among which he expects to increase the number of forces on high alert to over 300.000.

The summit of 30 member countries begins today, and the Montenegrin delegation is led by the president of the country Milo Djukanovic, and with him the ministers of defense and foreign affairs are expected in the Spanish capital Rasko Konjević i Ranko Krivokapic.

The platform for participation in the Summit states that full support will be provided for the adoption of the next Strategic Concept, which will encompass all the challenges and risks of the new security environment. It is also added that Montenegro will consider participating in the newly established battle groups on the south-eastern wing of the Alliance.

At the Summit, one of the main topics will be Russia and Ukraine. The survey showed that 67 percent of the citizens of the Alliance believe that the Russian invasion of Ukraine affected the safety and security of their country. When asked whether the invasion affected the safety and security of Montenegro, eight percent answered that it did a lot, and 36 percent that it did to some extent, 24 percent that it did not much, and 20 percent that it did not at all.

Even 70 percent of the citizens of the Alliance are worried about the possibility of war in the countries of the Alliance, including 46 percent of the citizens of Montenegro. However, this is the lowest percentage among individual members.

The number of those who have an unfavorable opinion of Russia is growing (68 percent). In that part, an increase of 27 percent was recorded compared to 2021. In the case of China, that percentage increased in the same period by 11 percent.