Political

The current issues of preparation for the attack on Iraq were repeatedly monitored by Public Opinion Research Centre after approximately half a year. At the present, a mere 28 % of Czech citizens would agree with the military conflict against Iraq, while in spring this figure reached as high as 39%. Support for a military operation without the mandate of the Security Council of the UN is considerably lower.

61 % of citizens are currently satisfied with the membership of the CZ in NATO; on the other hand 23 % of respondents expressed their dissatisfaction. The Czech public continues to see Czech membership in NATO as more or less a certain form of subordination of the country to foreign powers (50 %) than an instrument ensuring its independence (43 %). According to 49 % of citizens the membership of the CZ in NATO is an instrument ensuring peace and safety for the country; on the contrary 46 % see it as a factor bringing an increased risk of the Czech Republic being dragged into a war.

The upcoming NATO Summit in Prague is seen by almost a half of citizens (49%) unfavourably, by 37% favourably and 14% could not take a stand. A similar question asked before the meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in September 2000 was answered positively by the same number of respondents as in the case of the NATO Summit, however the amount of negative answers was significantly lower (32%).

According to the October survey, 26% of respondents rate activities of the European Union favourably and 11% are of the opposite opinion. 41% of citizens see EU activities as neither clearly positive nor negative. More than 70% of respondents agree with the statement that values of democracy and co-operation are asserted in the EU. On the other hand, according to 44%, equality is not practised in the EU, they also view critically the enforcement of justice and tolerance.

Citizenship is most noticeably manifested during elections; in case of the Czech entry to the European Union, the issue of the actual entry of the CZ to the EU, that is to say participation and voting in the referendum, is the first and most important decision, which will be followed by others – new citizens of the European Union will be voting members into the European Parliament on behalf of the Czech Republic.

65 % of citizens are very or at least “partially” interested in the entry of the CZ to the EU, which is 8 percentage points more than a year ago. In general, society has a prevailing opinion that the information about the process of the integration of the CZ in the EU is insufficient (59 %), with the opposite opinion scoring 33 %. However, among the people who are “very” interested in the entry of the CZ to the EU, there is a predominating opinion that the information is sufficient.

Respondents are mostly convinced about the partial loss of sovereignty of the country. Furthermore, on one hand people more frequently think that the membership of the CZ in the EU will bring greater security, greater legal and democratic safeguards, improvement in the quality of Czech legislation and economic benefits, but also risks associated with migration of the population and economic problems including a drop in the standard of living.

In October, 37% of those polled said they were satisfied with the current political situation in the Czech Republic (‘very satisfied’ – 2%, ‘quite satisfied’ – 35%), whereas 58% were dissatisfied (‘quite dissatisfied’ – 43% and ‘very dissatisfied’ – 15%) and 4% did not know. Since the June election to the Chamber of Deputies, no significant change has occurred in respect of the satisfaction with the political situation.

The president is trusted by 55% and distrusted by 42% of citizens. The level of confidence in the president has been relatively stable at least since mid-1999 and is regularly above the 50% limit. The new government of Vladimír Špidla enjoys confidence of 48% of interviewees and is not trusted by the same number of respondents (48%). The second survey of the coalition cabinet trustworthiness level confirms the results from September and is significantly higher than the one expressed to the departing cabinet in July (43 %).

Almost two thirds of CSSD voters would also support the party today, while 8% would vote the KSCM and 6% the ODS. Former voters of the CSSD include a relatively high percentage of those who would not participate in an election today or do not know whom to vote for (17%). 57% of respondents who voted the ODS in the June election would also support the party in late September, whereas 15% would now vote the CSSD and 7% the KDU-CSL.