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Moldovan pollster says majority support Moldova’s membership in Customs Union

According to the recent public opinion polls, Euro-skepticism is growing in Moldova

CHISINAU, April 16. /TASS/. The majority of respondents polled by the Moldovan Institute of Public Policy on the whole territory of Moldova, except the self-proclaimed Dniester region, said that they support Moldova's membership in the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

The poll showed that if a referendum on Moldova's accession to the Customs Union were held this weekend fifty-eight percent of the respondents would vote for joining the Customs Union, against 26% who would have objected, said Director of Chisinau Institute of Public Policy Arkady Barbarosh.

Forty percent of the respondents said they would vote for joining the European Union, and 42% answered in the negative, Barbarosh said, citing the results of the " Barometer of the Public Opinion" poll conducted on March 28 - April 7.

Forty-eight percent of Moldovan citizens are against joining NATO, and 41% said a neutrality status would be the best guarantee of Moldova's security.

The recent public opinion polls have demonstrated growing Euro-skepticism in Moldova, the pollster said. Last year the number of supporters of joining the European Union was estimated at 44% Experts see a link between a changing attitude of the Moldovan population to the EU with the worsening economic situation in Moldova and the falling ratings of pro-European parties in Moldova. Seventy-five percent of the respondents polled said Moldova was moving in the wrong direction.

The poll was conducted in 85 residential areas of Moldova with the support of the Soros Foundation to interview more than a thousand respondents.