Prague, Nov 13 (CTK) – More than two thirds of Czechs (69 percent) consider the foreign nationals who have come to the Czech Republic in recent years a problem, which is a 9-percent increase since mid-2014 and the highest share since 2003, according to a fresh poll released by the CVVM agency.
In 2003, foreigners were a problem for 73 percent of Czechs.
In the new poll, conducted in October, foreigners were more often labelled a problem by people over 60, people with secondary education and those left-oriented.
Asked about foreigners in their place of residence, 35 percent of people said it is a problem for them, 40 percent said it is no problem, and 20 percent said no foreigners live in their town.
The share of the people who consider foreign nationals in their town a problem has risen by 11 percent since mid-2014 and is the highest in the 12-year history of the monitoring.
Czechs say the most accepted reasons for foreigners´ stay in the country are studies and study or work training stays, which are accepted by 63 percent of the respondents.
Almost three fifths (57 percent) said they agree with immigrants being accepted due to a war, starvation or natural disasters in their homeland.
Over one third of Czechs reject this as a reason, however.
A total of 46 percent of people agree with the acceptance of foreigners who are persecuted for religious, racial or political reasons. The same share of Czechs, 46 percent, reject this as a reason.
Negative answers prevailed over the positive in reaction to the question of whether foreigners should be given the residence permit to work or run business in the Czech Republic.
The reason that foreigners want to live in the Czech Republic is the least acceptable for Czechs, the poll showed.
People´s agreement with all reasons has sharply declined and disagreement has steeply risen since the previous similar poll in February 2015.
The CVVM conducted the poll on 1,045 people on October 5-12.
