Three-fifths of Czechs against EU membership because of refugee reception quotas

Dissatisfaction is growing among the Czech public with the country’s membership in the European Union, which according to sociologists is connected to the complicated handling of the current refugee crisis. A survey published by the STEM agency last week documented that three-fifths of Czechs are now dissatisfied with the country’s EU membership and would vote against entry if the referendum to join were held today.

STEM analysts have not recorded such low support for EU membership Since 2004, when the Czech Republic became part of the EU. "The concerns of Czech citizens over the the refugees are indubitably unfavorably influencing their relationship to the European Union, which is requiring its Member States approach the solution to the refugee crisis in the spirit of solidarity," the authors of the survey report.

The Czech Republic, together with several other states, is rejecting the idea of permanent quotas for redistribution of migrants within the EU, but for the time being such an opinion is the minority one. According to the survey, 58 % of respondents now have negative feelings about the country’s EU membership – more specifically, they have concerns ranging from the mild to the significant.

People who are afraid of the refugees report such unpleasant feelings much more frequently. Ever since the Czech Republic joined the EU, STEM has sought questions to the hypothetical question of how the referendum on entering the EU would turn out were it to be held again.

What was originally majority agreement with EU membership among the Czech public has gradually weakened, in the spring of 2011 the proportion of votes for and against EU membership were even, and ever since the opponents of the EU have begun to predominate. The current result – 38 % of Czech people in favor of EU entry – represents the lowest percentage of those in favor to date.

"The results confirm the current majority negative mood of the Czech public in relation to the European Union. Unfavorable feelings clearly predominate," the authors of the survey found.

Younger people, people with higher education, and people from households with favorable financial and material situations view the EU as more of a help. Recently the satisfaction with the EU of persons with secondary or higher education and persons older than 45 has significantly weakened.

From the perspective of political orientation, right-wing oriented people primarily have a more favorable relationship toward the EU, specifically, supporters of the Christian Democrats, the Civic Democrats, and TOP 09, while anti-EU positions are characteristic of left-wing citizens, primarily Communist Party voters. "An important finding is the fact that satisfaction with EU membership is significantly weakening among people with a more favorable relationship to the EU, i.e., more among the centrist and right-wing oriented people than among left-wing people," the STEM analysts emphasized.