Nearly three-quarters of Czech population oppose introduction of Euro, poll suggests
According to a recent poll conducted by the SANEP agency, nearly three in four Czechs are against the introduction of the euro. Roughly half of the respondents even say they would vote against joining the EU today – a big shift from the result of the 2003 referendum, when 77 percent of the country’s population voted in favor. David Král, director of the Czech think tank Europeum, speaks about the connection between the financial crisis and growing reservations towards the EU, and whether or not he found the result of the poll surprising.
“If we just refer to the last summit of the European Union in Brussels, the Czech prime minister clearly said that the Czech Republic will not join the euro while the permanent mechanism to help countries in the eurozone dealing with sovereign debt is in place. So from that perspective, I really don’t think that the result is a big surprise.”
Czechs are also skeptic towards the institution of the EU as a whole, 45 percent say they would now vote against joining, compared to 77 percent who voted in favor of that in the 2003 referendum. What does this say about the current state of the EU?
“It’s difficult to make a direct link. First of all, the Czech public opinion is rather volatile. And I think that what we’ve seen in this poll is again explicable by the current crisis in the eurozone. And somehow, for the Czechs, it is difficult to distinguish between the European Union as an institution and the crisis which concerns some of the member states.
“It is also in contrast with some of the other polls that we have seen. It’s interesting to point out that Czechs still trust European institutions more than their national government. And in fact, some of the other opinion polls, such as Eurobarometer, show that Czechs think that the European Union is well suited to tackle some of the issues.
“They are in favor of, for example, stricter financial regulations. They are very much in favor of closer coordination of economic and monetary policies at the EU level. They support EU activities in the G20. So here, I would not say that the result is very clear-cut and I think we have to be very cautious in interpreting it.”
Which factors do you think have lead to this significant change in opinion, and maybe we can take a look at some of the factors that would have to change to reverse this negative attitude towards the EU and the eurozone?
“But of course the second factor is still that domestically, we are fighting with the aftermath of the financial crisis, so I think what can happen is that once the economy starts booming again, especially the indicators seem to be very good, which is the most important factor for the Czech recovery as well, then again, the Czech public can swing back and the trust in the European Union and its institutions can recuperate.”
Do you think that result of this poll reflects the sentiment in other EU member states? Are there comparable survey results from countries?
“I don’t think that the public opinion in other countries has a significant impact on Czech attitudes. As far as the euro is concerned, one thing that we can say is that we can see a bit more skepticism in those countries where the Euro has not been adopted yet, such as Sweden for instance, or Poland, where the government has clearly declared that it is in favor but now they are very cautious.
