Poll: majority of Czechs say corruption has increased in last five years

A new poll released by the STEM/MARK polling agency has suggested that the majority of Czechs - 65 percent - think that levels of corruption in the country have gone up over the last five years. According to the survey, 23 percent of citizens said they had witnessed cases of corruption - including 11 percent who saw corruption in health care - having given both voluntary and involuntary bribes to doctors.

16 percent of respondents in the poll said that they had come across corruption in the civil service, in the police force, and other areas.

Transparency International, which has monitored the problem of corruption extensively, issued a report last October, according to which the Czech Republic is among the countries with the highest level of corruption within the European Union.