International Relations

In February survey CVVM focused in one of its topics on Benes Decrees.The first question had to represent czech public opinions about validity of Benes Decrees in future. 64% of respondents think that the Benes Decrees should continue to be in force, 7 % stood up for their cancellation, 29% did not answered this question.

Expulsion of Sudet-German is considered to have been just by almost two thirds of respondents (54%), on the other hand a total of 27 % think it unjust.

Retrospectively 27 % of czech citizens agree with attack on Iraq, 64% of respondents disagree with it.

A fifth of respondents think, that military intervention of USA and states of alliance in Iraq helped to limit terorism in the world, on contrary 7 out of 10 respondents do not think so.

More than three fifths of citizens(61%) critically evaluate situation in Iraq, only 4 respondents out of 100 evaluate situation in Iraq well.

In February CVVM interrogated respondents about public opinions on european constitution.

More than a half of respondents agree with united constitution, that would be in force for every single

member of European Union. On the contrary a quarter of citizens is against it.

There is very low awareness of content of European constitution among most of czech citizens.

Six out of ten respondents expressed that they are not informed about European constitution at all, more than a third of citizens know hardly something about it.

Almost half of czech citizens (48%) were ( some at least partly) interested in american presidential elections. One out of ten respondents expressed, that he is deeply interested in it. On the contrary a third was very little interested in presidential elections in the USA. 19% of respondents did not care about it at all.As an often expressed public attitude to result of american presidential elections appeared an indifferent answer „ Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied“ (46%).

Trust prevails over mistrust in the case of V. Klaus, T. Blair, J. Chirac, M. Dzurinda, J. Kerry and A. Kwasniewski. For other personalities in international politics included in the survey, there is prevailing mistrust among the Czech public, most significant being for Fidel Castro, Jasir Arafat, Alexander Lukashenko and also – though on a smaller scale – for the Presidents of the USA and Russia George Bush and Vladimir Putin.

The majority of Czech citizens are sceptical on how they view the possible harmony of future decisions of the European Union with the interests of the Czech Republic and their own interests. Only 30 % of respondents believe that the future decisions of the European Union will comply with the interests of the Czech Republic, while 62 % do not believe so. In relation to their own interests, respondents’ opinions sound a little more sceptical.

In the June survey, among other things Public Opinion Research Centre devoted a few questions to the issue of the so-called Beneš Decrees. In connection with discussions about the Beneš Decrees there have been opinions particularly coming from abroad that those Decrees that form the legal framework for the expulsion, should be cancelled. The first question therefore was to establish opinions of the Czech public as to the further validity of these Decrees.

Traditionally, relations of the Czech Republic with Slovakia (94 %) and Poland (92 % of respondents) are rated as the best. A smaller number of respondents (86 %) described the relations of the CZ and Hungary as being very or quite good. The share of the negative assessment of the Czech-Hungarian relations is however on a similar level as in the case of the above mentioned Slovakia and Poland, which shows there is a relatively large group of respondents (10 %), who could not evaluate relations with Hungary.

More than a half of the citizens (56 %) agree with accepting the Euro as the currency of the Czech Republic, on the other hand one third (35 %) is against. Support for introducing the Euro clearly decreases with older age and lower standards of living. The introduction of the Euro is very often supported by students, but relatively more frequently its introduction is approved by university graduates, managers or highly qualified professional workers and Civic Democratic Party (ODS) supporters.

Three quarters of the Czech population (76%) hold the opinion that in terms of foreign policy the USA accentuates its own power and economic interests; almost two thirds (64%) believe that the USA does not care about what the world community thinks, and two fifths (42%) are of the opinion that the current foreign policy of the USA poses a threat for the world today. The Czech society is also deeply ambivalent about whether the foreign policy of the United States strives for stability and a peaceful world – 47% of citizens think so, while 44% are persuaded to the contrary.