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.

The problems most often considered by respondents to be the major ones are as follows: unemployment, economic or general crime, corruption, state indebtedness and the reform of public funds, permanent quarrels among politicians, unstable government and the ongoing political crisis, problems in the health sector, politicians’ unconcern for ordinary people and poor work of the police and courts in the enforcement of law.

Surveys conducted by the Public Opinion Research Centre regularly examine which recent events are regarded by respondents as major ones. As regards specific events, the respondents most frequently mentioned the election to the European Parliament and accession of our country to the European Union. They also considered other events occurring in the local political scene to be important, in particular the resignation of Vladimir Špidla from the post of prime minister, the subsequent fall of the government, crisis in the CSSD and the election of Stanislav Gross as its new leader.

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.

For several months already Czech citizens have been expressing the highest level of confidence in the president of our country. In June survey he was regarded as trustworthy by almost three quarters of the respondents. A drop in the public’s confidence concerned according to our survey mainly the Czech government, now trusted by only a quarter of Czech citizens. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are regarded by the inhabitants of our country as even slightly less trustworthy.

All respondents having the right to vote were asked an open question (i.e. without a list of political parties being used) investigating which party they would vote for if an election to the Chamber of Deputies took place the following week. The structure of the answers given is summarised in the table.

The question ‘Imagine that an election to the Chamber of Deputies is held next week. Would you participate?’ was answered yes by 63% of those surveyed having the right to vote (‘definitely yes’ by 32% and ‘probably yes’ by 31%), while 30% said no (15% ‘probably not’ and 15% ‘definitely not’) and 7% did not know.

Traditionally, great importance is attributed to family values. Helping their family and friends and living in a satisfied family is considered as being equally important by 97 % of the approached citizens. Similarly, the absolute majority of respondents (97 %) appreciate having in their lives friends who they get on well with. The items, which obtained the highest degree of support during the entire monitored period, are all statements relating to employment.

In case of losing the job, most people would attempt to find a specific job corresponding to their own ideas. In the census this was expressed by less than two thirds of respondents (65%). Contrary to this, one third of respondents (33%) stated that if they were in this situation they would also accept any job. Regarding the conditions which people themselves set when looking for a job, the relatively smallest obstacles to accept a job were the need for induction or re-training or, if need be, possible overtime work and increased pace of work .

In the May census organised by the Centre for Public Opinion Research within the project Our Society 2004 we investigated, apart from other issues, also the issue of unemployment. More than three quarters of people consider the current level of unemployment in the CR to be too high, less than a fifth of the respondents think that it is adequate, and only 2% of the respondents consider it to be too low.

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.