According to a poll conducted by the STEM agency at the end of August, only 48 percent of Czechs are satisfied with the Czech Republic’s membership in the European Union. That is roughly the same share as in April, but nine percentage points less than last October.
Overall, 12 percent of the public is definitely satisfied with the Czech membership in the EU, while 36 percent chose the answer “quite satisfied.” On the contrary, 19 percent of people have a completely negative attitude towards the EU, while a third of Czechs are quite dissatisfied with the membership in the Union.
Support for the Czech Republic’s membership in the EU has been slowly declining since joining the Union, but in 2009 it rose to 69 percent, which was the highest so far. It was in 2009 that Czechia presided over the Council of the European Union.
However, after the presidency, the decline in support started to repeat and was further accelerated by the migration crisis. In 2015, the support of the EU fell to 35 percent. In the following years, it increased again, and since about 2018, it has been around 50 percent.
Czechia will hold the EU presidency in the second half of next year, and awareness of this development is higher among university students and among men. It also increases significantly with the age of the respondents. While 19 percent of Czechs in the age group between 18 and 29 know of the upcoming presidency, 59 percent of Czechs over the age of 60 are informed about the presidency.
However, almost two-thirds of the public think that Czechia will not be able to use its presidency to its advantage. According to the public, the Czech EU presidency should focus primarily on ensuring security and prosperity. Most of the society shares these views, authors of the survey added.
