International Relations

The actual attack on Iraq was supported by 24 % of Czech citizens in the first half of April, while 70 % did not agree with it. However, simultaneously the attack on Iraq without the mandate of the Security Council of the UN was labelled as acceptable only by 16 % of respondents, whereas 77 % expressed an opposite standpoint. Supporters of military action against Iraq most frequently named the reason for their opinion as the necessity to remove Saddam’s regime (29 %), the necessity of fighting terrorism (23 %), the necessity of securing international safety (14 %), inevitability and justification of a military solution of the problems with Iraq (9 %) or the necessity of eliminating Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (7 %).

The number of declared participants of the referendum has not changed much since November; it still ranges between 77 - 80 % of people with the voting right. Neither was there a different distribution of votes between the groups for and against, the approximate division of respondents has remained the same: 60 % for, 20 % against, 20 % do not know. A half of the people want the EURO, a third rejects it.

The attack on Iraq is generally supported by a mere 21 % of Czech citizens, while 72 % disagree with it. Support for the attack without the mandate of the Security Council of the UN is even lower. In such a case, 10 % of respondents expressed their agreement with the attack, 83 % were against. Only 18 % of people think that the attack on Iraq will bring positive effects in relation to suppressing international terrorism, on the other hand 70 % are of the opinion that the war will not contribute to fighting world terrorism in any way.

As far as the situation relating to Iraq is concerned, the basic monitored question is the agreement or disagreement with the discussed military intervention. At the beginning of February 2003, a military action was supported by a total of 22% of the Czech population, which is a little less than the figure in the preceding month. Since the start of US efforts to continue the fight against terrorism in this way, this recorded level of agreement has been at its lowest as of yet.

In its February survey, among other things, Public Opinion Research Centre focused on some aspects of relations between Czechs and Slovaks. The first question was to establish how often Czech citizens visited the Slovak Republic. The following questions concentrated on issues of how many people had relatives or friends in Slovakia and to which degree knowledge of the Slovak language was wide-spread. The respondents’ answers show that a third of Czech citizens visit the Slovak Republic less often than they did before the disintegration of the common state.

Currently, 69 % of respondents claim a large or partial interest in the entry of the CZ to the EU. When evaluating how much information relating to the procedure of entering the EU Czech citizens had at their disposal, similarly as before, there was a prevailing feeling of insufficiency of the information (56 %); while 40 % of respondents are satisfied. Comprehensibility of the available information is rated considerably better (55 % satisfied, 39 % dissatisfied).

A strong intention to participate in the referendum on the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union at this point has been shown by 42 % of respondents, another 36 % have promised their participation with some hesitation ("probably yes"). Seven percent were still considering their decision and the remaining 15 % would not come to the referendum. The readiness to vote in the referendum remains under the influence of certain cooling phenomena recorded at the beginning of January.

From our surveys we know that this summit was the most important event at the end of November and beginning of December, and still in January it was named among the most significant recent events by 22 % of respondents to this research. We were interested in how people rated this event. It was predominantly valued by people favourably; a “definitely positive” or “mostly positive” opinion was shared by 56 % of respondents.

The relations with Poland (89 %) and Slovakia (89 %) are most frequently considered to be good. Moreover, there is a relatively high share of positive opinions concerning relations with Hungary (82 %) and Germany (79 %). Relations with Austria are seen significantly less favourably, (where 48 % of respondents rate them as good and 49 % view them negatively).

Relations with Poland and Slovakia are considered to be good on a steady basis.

According to the Czech public, in the current situation it is necessary to maintain stability, peace and not to proceed without the approval of other countries on the Security Council. Only 24% of CZ citizens support a military attack on Iraq, which has been the lowest registered degree of consent since the start of US efforts to continue the fight against terrorism in this way. Two thirds of respondents are against the attack.