Over 60 per cent of Serbian citizens support their country's possible integration into the European Union, but reject any future Nato membership, a survey released yesterday showed.

Some 62 per cent of Serbs would support a Serbian bid to join the EU if they were asked in a referendum, while 22 per cent said they would vote against it, the poll by TNS Medium Gallup agency showed.

However only 20 per cent said they would support any effort from Belgrade to become a Nato member, while 61 per rcent of those polled would be against it, according to the survey quoted by Tanjug news agency.

The Serbian branch of the Gallup agency said it polled 1,200 people in direct interviews in early February.

In December, Serbia officially applied for a EU membership, after Brussels introduced a visa-free travel regime for the citizens of the Balkan republic and unfroze a free trade accord following Belgrade's increased cooperation with The Hague-based war crimes tribunal.

Belgrade hopes to be granted candidate status this year and join the EU in 2014.

Public opinion is strongly against Nato membership, mostly due to Nato's 1999 bombing campaign.

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