Nearly half of all citizens believe that Macedonia will not be given a date to open its EU accession talks. The Detektor poll found that 47.7 percent of the people have low expectations from the European Council next week, while 34.8 percent remain hopeful that Macedonia will open its accession talks.

A quarter of the public has given up all hope on EU accession and believes that if October comes and goes with no date, the talks will never begin. Under the October failure scenario, some 22 percent expect a date in the next five years, 17 percent believe they will begin by the end of next year and 16.7 percent a pining for next spring.

When it comes to pointing the fingers, 34.7 percent believe that the Zaev Government will be to blame if the accession talks are again denied, while 19.7 percent would rather blame to opposition and 8 percent – certain EU member states.

The poll found that the criticism coming from the European Union toward Macedonia is warranted. This is the opinion of 41.4 percent of those polled by Detektor, while 26.7 percent believe that the criticism is unfair. A similar number – 46.8 percent – believe that the major racketeering scandal will influence the decision of the European Union, while 32.4 percent think it will have no influence.

Detektor also asked the citizens whether they support joining the EU and 67.4 percent said yes, while 17.3 percent are opposed.