International Relations

After entering the EU, the Czech public expects that changes for the worse in the social and economic sectors are more likely than not. The only exception in the areas monitored in the survey is represented in this aspect by wages, which are more often expected to grow by people (35 %), than to drop (11 %) after entering the EU. The negative expectations clearly dominate in the price area, whether it concerns grocery (82 % anticipate price increases), energy prices (74 %), land (71 %) or public transport (60 %).

First we asked with which countries we should maintain close economic relations. Most frequently named states were Germany (59 %), Slovakia (36 %), Austria (29 %) and Poland (22 %), more than an eighth of respondents also gave the U.S.A., Great Britain, France and the Russian Federation. The order of countries, with which we should co-operate politically, differed; the most important partners for us should be Slovakia (45 %), Germany (44 %), Poland (29 %) and Austria (22 %).

In its May survey, Public Opinion Research Centre asked among others this open question (i.e. a question without possible answer options): “In your opinion what are the main advantages and disadvantages of the Czech entry to the EU? Please give the three most important advantages and disadvantages of Czech entry.” The respondents’ answers have shown that for them the most important advantages of our entry to the EU are the border opening (56%), the possibility of working in EU countries (35 %), the possibility to study in EU countries (24 %) and the overall economic benefit (20%).

The question, if respondents are going to participate in the June referendum on the entry of the Czech Republic to the European Union, was answered as follows: 42 % of citizens with the voting right stated they would "definitely" participate, 35 % said they would "more likely" participate and 16 % would not take part. The group, which does not know whether it will participate or not, currently amounts to seven percent.

With the upcoming date of the referendum on the entry of the CZ to the EU, we have been monitoring flows between the group of those that claim they will "definitely" participate and those that are not completely certain about their participation and chose the answer option "will more likely participate in the referendum on the entry of the CZ to the EU”. However, the number of those that say they will participate in the referendum has not changed much since the end of last year and in April 78 % of respondents declared their participation.

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.