Only 17 percent of Czechs satisfied with Czech politics
A Kantar agency survey for Czech Television found that only 17 percent of Czechs were satisfied with the state of Czech politics. Since the survey was published, austerity policies aimed at tackling the public deficit have added to the general dissatisfaction. Czechs are mainly dissatisfied with the government's handling of inflation, rising living costs, energy price regulations, and poor public communication.
I asked Klára Votavová, research fellow of the Europeum Institute, why Czechs distrust the government and how Fiala’s government is addressing the issue in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2025.
“First of all, it is important to highlight that the government did not really have good conditions when it came in because the country was dealing with the aftermath of COVID, the [Russo-Ukrainian] war started in the first month of the government, the energy crisis, and inflation.
“At the same time, the government is saying that a lot of this distrust can be attributed to bad communication or to the fact that it is implementing reforms that are necessary but are unpopular. And here, I am talking about the budget cuts. But I think the problem is that the government is representing the interests of certain voters who are richer than some other voters.
“I would also say that it may be a bit early to evaluate how exactly the policy choices affected people’s trust in the government. But the more important factor is just the generally bad economic situation in Czechia when the government came in and that continues.”
Then the real question would probably be about tax revenue. Where would it come from?
“We can discuss why the government is so ineffective in taxing revenue from firms and billionaires. It can be incompetent or maybe because it just refuses to do so from ideological issues since it is a right-wing government or the fact that it may be lobbied by big corporations. I can’t confirm that easily.
“But the government is not taxing high-level income individuals enough. We have very low property taxes for instance if we compare them with the OECD countries, even though we have a very large property wealth gap. So, these are issues that the government should look at but it’s not.
“Instead, it tries to save money by taxing lower-income households or making things more expensive by making cuts for students and the housing provided for them. This is not where the money is, but the government refuses to see that so then the budget problems remain and are not fixed.”
The Czech economy is expected to reach 1.7 percent growth in 2024 and then accelerate in 2025 and 2026, according to estimates made by the government. That is chiefly due to an increase in household consumption with expected reduced inflation, which has troubled Czechia since 2020.
