Although the vast majority of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina want their country to become a member of the European Union, their share recently fell, Croatian state agency Hina said on Wednesday, citing a survey commissioned by the Bosnian government's European integration directorate.

The survey polled some 1,200 Bosnians in the latter half of August. Some 77 percent of people polled said they would vote for the country to join the EU. The support for EU membership was expectedly higher in the Croat-Bosniak federation (FBiH), where it stood as more than 90 percent, compared to the Serb entity (RS) where it was only 54.5 percent.

The main reasons cited in favor of joining the EU included seeing membership as a guarantee of permanent peace and political stability, free movement of people, goods and capital and respect for the rule of law. Some 16 percent said they are against joining the EU, four percentage points up from a similar survey in 2021.

The opponents say that membership would cause higher costs of living, higher taxes, and the loss of the diversity of cultures. They are also concerned about the “excessive centralization” of power.

More than half of the respondents throughout the country believe that the EU will survive all the challenges it is currently facing. However, 30 percent of those polled in the RS entity do not believe that the EU would be successful in addressing its current challenges.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted its application EU candidacy in 2016,” Hina said, without clarifying what happened next.