INSCOP survey: 83% of Romanians say Romania should seek West for political, military alliances

Over 83% of Romanians believe that in the coming decades Romania should follow the direction of the Western world (EU, US, NATO) when it comes to forging political and military alliances, according to findings of a survey conducted by INSCOP Research, commissioned by the STRATEGIC Thinking Group.According to the survey conducted May 23-June 14, in the opinion of 83.5% of the respondents, Romania should seek the Western world, meaning the EU, US, NATO, when it comes to forging political and military alliances, while 8% believe that Romania should seek the Eastern world, meaning Russia, China.Almost two thirds (65.8%) of the respondents believe that NATO will remain Romania's main long-term security guarantee, while 29% believe the opposite.Young people up to the age of 30 and people on very high incomes make up the bulk of those to say that NATO will remain the main guarantee of Romania's security.As many as 70.9% of Romanians believe the Romanian armed forces should increase in size in the future, while 23.2% believe that they should remain the same as now, and 3.5% believe that they should be downsized.Agreeing with the increase in size of the Romanian armed forces are mainly Romanians in the Sud-Est region and people on very low incomes. People with higher educational attainment and the inhabitants of the Centru are more likely to say that the Romanian armed forces should stay at their current size.The survey was conducted by INSCOP Research and commissioned by STRATEGIC Thinking Group under a research project backed by the private sector and having as academic partners the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj Napoca, the Univeristy of Bucharest, the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, the Vest University of Timisoara and the Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi.The survey "Romania 2050 Agenda. A conversation about the future of Romania - Edition I" was conducted May 23 -June 14 on a sample of 1,500 respondents by computer-assisted telephone interviewing, on a sample of 1,500 people aged 18 years and over. It carries an error margin of ? 2.53%, for a 95% confidence level.Chairman of the Strategic Thinking Group Remus Ioan Stefureac says that the "Romania 2050 Agenda" project is designed to start a national conversation about essential long-term public policies based on the opinions of Romanians gathered through a series of national opinion polls."Based on what Romanians believe, we want to encourage a broad conversation of experts (from the academia, public and private sector) on each of the topics of the project. The project aims to conduct several survey on six major areas of interest for the future Romania, each divided into specific themes: the society of the future, the infrastructure of the future, the environment and resources of the future, the economy and business of the future, the technologies and trades of the future and Romania's place in the world of the future," he says."Today's world has broken away from the paradigm of stable geopolitical blocs of the 20th century and has changed significantly by fragmenting interests and multiplying bilateral international relations, by increased economic and social disparities, and also by rapid technological advancement and the interdependencies of global logistics. In a time dominated by global security risks generated by the illegitimate military intervention of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, and after two years of pandemic restrictions and entering a generalised energy crisis, Romanians, like other Europeans, acutely feel the need for security, and public bodies are called to offer more mechanisms of stability and security," says Rector of the Vest University of Timisoara Marilen Pirtea.