The “Eurasian Monitor” agency has conducted a survey among the populations of EAEU member countries in order to reveal people’s attitude towards the EAEU in these countries.
The following question was formulated for the population of EAEU member countries: “It is known that Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia have united to form part of the Eurasian Economic Union (a common market of 5 countries). How do you feel about this decision?”
In Other EAEU Countries
Thus, in 2012, when the EAEU did not exist yet, 80 percent of Kazakhstan’s population favored it, 10 percent were indifferent and 4 percent were against it. In 2016, 74 percent of Kazakhs favored the EAEU, 16% were indifferent and 5% were against.
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In 2016, 69% of Russian population favored the EAEU, 21% were indifferent and 4% were against. In Kyrgyzstan, only 50% of the population favored the EAEU in 2014 and 30% opposed it. However, after Russia’s promise to provide 500 million USD to Kyrgyzstan, there was a considerable shift in people’s opinion and currently 81% of the population is in favor of the EAEU, and only 10% are against.
In all the EAEU countries (except for Belarus), the number of people with positive attitude towards the EAEU has decreased in 2016 compared to 2015, while the number of those with negative attitude has grown.
In Armenia
The picture is considerably different in Armenia. According to the same survey, in 2012, 61% of Armenian society favored the EAEU, 26% were indifferent and only 3% were against it. In 2013, the number of indifferent people reduced and formed 19%, the number of citizens favoring the EAEU increased reaching 67% and only 5% opposed it. In 2015, when Armenia officially became member of the EAEU, the number of people favoring this structured decreased and reached 56%, 29% were indifferent and 10% were against it.
In 2016, the number of people favoring the EAEU further decreased to form 46%. The number of indifferent and opposing people increased and reached 33% and 15% respectively.
Hence, Armenia is the only member country where less than half of the population favors the union.
Other Questions
Among Armenians, the opinions on single currency are split: 45% are in favor, 42% are against. Moreover, the single currency is favored by low income respondents.
It is also interesting that the residents of all the EAEU member countries favor signing a free trade agreement between the EU and the EAEU. There is a decline in the percentage of people who believe that there will be rapprochement between CIS countries in the coming 5 years. The most vivid dynamics in change of opinion on this issue is observed in Armenia – from 26% down to 14%.
During last year, there was another issue that registered change of public opinion. In 2015, 86% of Armenians considered Russia a friendly state. Currently, that figure has considerably declined and reached 69%. In other words, 17% of Armenians have changed their opinion regarding Russian-Armenian relations during one year.
Tatevik Vardanyan,
“Union of Informed Citizens”