Prague, Dec 22 (CTK) – One half of Czechs share the view that relations with Germany will worsen due to the current migrant crisis, according to a poll conducted by the STEM polling institute earlier in December and released yesterday.
Four-fifths of Czechs do not understand the German policy towards refugees and almost three-quarters believe that the neighbouring country will not cope with the situation.
On the other hand, seven out of ten respondents do not understand the policy of the Czech government either.
“We have an irrational, emotive fear of something, of what we do not understand on the domestic political scene. Germans are doing something we do not understand at all,” STEM director Jan Hartl said.
Only 9 percent of Czechs believe that the refugee crisis will not affect Czech-German relations at all. Some two-fifths said it would rather not affect them, while 13 percent share the view that it will certainly affect them.
Eight out of ten Czechs do not understand the German policy towards refugees. Two-fifths of Czechs do not understand it at all.
One-fifth said the German behaviour was comprehensible to them.
Some 73 percent of Czechs believe that Germany will prove unable to cope with the situation. Only 6 percent believe that Germany will sufficiently cope with the problem.
The policy of the Czech government is absolutely incomprehensible to 26 percent of Czechs.
Two-thirds of Czechs are afraid of radicalisation and the growing influence of nationalist groupings. No fear was expressed by 9 percent, while another 26 percent are rather not afraid of it.
Hartl said he could not see any space for the formation of a new political grouping that would adopt an active approach to the refugee crisis.
This would only polarise society even more, he added.
The work with a “wavering citizen with a centrist focus” who would get sufficiently assessed information is crucial, Hartl said.
Next year, the Czech-German Fund for the Future wants to support joint Czech-German projects against xenophobia.
Established in the Czech-German declaration in January 1997, the fund is to contribute to the friendly meetings of Czechs and Germans.
