Other

42 % of citizens think that damages caused by the floods could have been prevented; on the other hand 44 % believe that these damages were predominantly inevitable. With the exception of the President, whose acts during the period of floods were perceived by the public mainly in a critical manner (62 %), all other bodies, involved in one way or another in activities connected with the flood disaster and in eliminating its consequences, are valued positively with great prevalence.

Respondents give the most favourable assessment to education at elementary schools and grammar schools. In case of pupils of elementary schools, development of independence is valued most favourably (51%) as well as a grasp of the world (50%), and for secondary school pupils it was acquisition of skills (71%). Large (78%) consensus exists for the possible extension of the possibilities of studying at universities, 65% of respondents expressed their disagreement with introducing school fees at universities and 34% of respondents agree with the proposal to cut down on the number of teachers and raise the salaries of those remaining.

18 % of citizens, in whose place of living or its vicinity floods caused larger damage, noted down damage to “other” property of the family (a holiday house - etc.). 11 % of respondents mentioned a damaged flat/house and damage to trade. The open question of if people incurred harm or problems in connection with floods other than damage to property was answered by stating most often problems with transport, various psychological conditions – shock, grief over what had happened or possible fear of the floods re-occurring.

People most often connect the August floods with a rare concurrence of weather factors and insensitive interventions in the landscape, which in the survey was unanimously supported by almost four fifths of respondents. Apart from this, about two thirds of respondents agreed that this year’s floods had also been caused by global climatic changes and insufficient flood controls.

In all the monitored countries (CZ, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania) supporters of capital punishment have a quite significant majority. On a relative basis, the highest number of them is in Romania (79%), on the other hand in Lithuania there is the smallest group of capital punishment opponents (15%). Slightly lower numbers of capital punishment supporters were recorded in Poland (74%) and Lithuania (73%).

The problems in question are considered by an absolute majority of respondents to be very or quite serious. As the largest threat they see pollution of sources of drinking water and its shortage; moreover the problem of waste cumulating is similarly seen as serious. These phenomena, directly connected with every day life are perceived by 55% - 56% of respondents as extremely important and by another third as considerably important.

The experience of having a car broken into has been acquired by 17% of respondents or other members of the household within the last 12 months. Thefts up to the value of CZK 3,000 (16 %) are also quite common. Approximately every tenth respondent disclosed that a bribe had been demanded from him or another member of the household (11 %), the sum of items of a value exceeding CZK 3,000 (10 %) had been stolen from him, or his cottage or chalet had been burgled (9 %).

Respondents see the behaviour of firms and enterprises towards the environment as definitely the worst (82 % “bad”). It is followed by the situation of sanctioning those harming the environment and the non-ecological behaviour of the population–both are criticised by about three quarters of respondents. Approximately two thirds (68 %) see the extent of logging in this country as excessive. Moreover, almost two thirds (63 %) consider appropriation of natural areas during constructions to be too large.

From the point of view of caring for the environment, citizens value best their local or municipal authorities (56 % well, 27 % badly). Moreover, the work of the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic is appreciated (49 % good work, 37 % bad work) as well as the work of ecological organisations as a whole (46 % good work, 26 % bad work). Opinions on the ecological policy of the government are relatively level, with 39 % positive judgments and 43 % negative.

The public is most often tolerant to youth, people with other religious beliefs and invalids. These answers were given by more than 80 % of citizens. Compared with 2000, tolerance toward the rich and people with a different political belief increased.