MACEDONIA DIVIDED OVER KOSOVO RECOGNITION
National.
Less than half of Macedonian citizens answered positively when asked whether Skopje should recognise Kosovo’s independence, an opinion poll shows.
Only 41% of those poll said Macedonia should recognize Kosovo while 34% were against it, the survey carried out by the Centre for Research and Policy Making shows.
24% of people gave different answers or said they do not know.
The poll shows significantly contrasting views on this issue between the country’s two main ethnic groups.
While 93% of the ethnic Albanians who make up a one quarter of the country’s population answered positively only 20% of Macedonians did the same. 47% of ethnic Macedonians were against recognising the new state.
The former Serbian province declared independence in mid February.
A similar polarisation in views emerged between Macedonians and Albanians when they were asked to choose what should be done first, the recognition of Kosovo or the demarcation of the mutual border that has been left unmarked for years.
85% of Albanians chose recognition while 74% of Macedonians said the mutual border should e marked first.
Last month a joint Macedonia-Kosovo commission set the grounds for the demarcation which is expected to last nearly a year. The border was left unmarked due to a dispute between Pristina and Belgrade over who had legal jurisdiction of the Kosovo-Macedonia border.
Skopje said it wants to build good ties with Pristina but was hesitant to recognise the new state in fear of jeopardising relations with Belgrade.
[Binsight]
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