The share of people who agree with EU membership is the same as two years ago, at 66%. Photo credit: Freepik.
Prague, July 14 (CTK) – Two-thirds of Czechs want the Czech Republic to remain a member of the EU, though public satisfaction with Czech EU membership is lower, at only 41%, according to a poll by CVVM released this week.
36% of Czechs are not satisfied with the country’s EU membership. A majority believe that European integration is beneficial in the fields of defence and culture, but have a significantly negative attitude towards the adoption of the euro, the poll showed.
Compared to the last survey in July 2021, the share of those satisfied with EU membership has increased by 7 percentage points, while the share of those dissatisfied increased by 11 percentage points. Those in the neutral category “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” fell by 17 percentage points to 21%, a historic low.
Satisfaction with Czech EU membership increases with the education and living standards of respondents, and decreases with age. Students, senior staff of companies, Prague residents, and those who voted for the current government parties are the most satisfied groups.
The share of people who agree with EU membership is the same as two years ago, at 66%.
“However, the share of those who think the Czech Republic ‘definitely should’ be a member of the European Union has increased significantly, at the expense of those who choose the answer ‘rather should’,” said CVVM.
30% of Czechs think the country should not be a member of the EU. This figure has not changed significantly in recent years and has been basically stable since 2017.
Most respondents said that the level of EU integration should remain about the same in the future as it is now. 65% of people believe that integration is beneficial for defence, 64% for culture, 55% for ecology, 53% for economy, and 44% for politics.
“Conviction about the usefulness of European integration in most of the surveyed areas increases with the respondent’s rising level of education and with a shift on the scale of political orientation from left to right,” said CVVM.
Almost three-quarters of people (73%) reject the euro, about the same as two years ago. “The share of those agreeing [with the adoption of the euro] has been around one fifth since 2011, and does not exceed one quarter of people, as also confirmed by the latest survey,” said CVVM.
The survey was conducted on 834 respondents from March 17 to May 22.