Prague, June 6 (CTK) – The number of Czechs satisfied with EU membership rose from 25 percent in April 2016 to 32 percent last April and about 60 percent of people believe that the country should be an EU member, according to a CVVM poll released today.
The Czechs’ satisfaction with EU membership returned to the figures of 2015. Last year, it was one of the lowest in history. It reached the highest levels in the crisis years 2008 and 2009, when it stood at 40 percent.
Along with the rise in satisfaction, the number of the dissatisfied decreased during the past year, from last year’s 39 percent to 33 percent this year.
The highest level of satisfaction is shown by young people, while the number of the dissatisfied rises with age.
A bigger share of the satisfied is also among managers and the voters of the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), the Greens, the Pirates and TOP 09.
Pensioners and leftist-minded voters are more often dissatisfied.
The number of people who say the Czech Republic should be an EU member rose from 50 percent last year and 59 percent in 2015 to 60 percent this year.
About every seventh Czech citizen often feels being an EU citizen and another 43 percent of people have sometimes this feeling.
About 40 percent of Czechs never feel as EU citizens.
The poll also showed that about one third of citizens are proud of EU membership, but 57 percent do not have this feeling.
The poll was conducted on April 3-13.
Another poll, released by the organisers of the recent international Globsec conference, showed that the Czechs are the most Eurosceptic out of the inhabitants of seven central and south-east European countries.
The EU was assessed more positively by inhabitants of Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia than by Czechs.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka ascribed people’s critical view of Europe to the inability to quickly resolve the massive migrant crisis.
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