42% of Ukrainians want to EU, 31% to Customs Union

About 42% of the Ukrainians support Ukraine's accession to the European Union, while 31% of the respondents stand for joining the Customs Union.

These are the results of a sociological survey on public attitudes to European integration, released during a roundtable at Ukrinform on Thursday.

"Joining the EU should be the main focus of Ukraine's integration, 42% of the population says. 31% stands for accession to the Customs Union," Maria Zolkina, an expert with the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, said.

About 13.5% of the respondents more believe that Ukraine should not join either the European Union, or the Customs Union.

The survey showed that there are significant differences in the attitude of the Ukrainians of different ages to the desired direction of integration. Thus, among young people (18-29 years old) orientation at the EU dominates (54%), and support for joining the Customs Union is the least (19%). At the same time, among people aged over 60 years old, support for joining the Customs Union dominates (45%), with accession to the EU being supported by 30% of the respondents.

Furthermore, there are also significant regional differences. Ukraine's accession to the EU is mostly supported in the west (72% of the population) and in the center of Ukraine (49%). In the east and south of the country, supporters of entry into the Customs Union traditionally dominate (50% and 39.5%, respectively). "The largest number of people undecided on their choice live in the least pro-European region of the country, in the east. Today, over 15% of people there cannot give a clear answer where Ukraine should move - to the EU or the Customs Union," Zolkina said.

The study was conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation n.a. Ilko Kucheriv and Razumkov Center's sociological service from May 17 to 22, 2013 among 2,010 respondents aged from 18 years in all regions of Ukraine (sampling error 2.3%).

Adapted from Ukrinform