To mark the 20th anniversary of the Czech-German Declaration, the Czech-German Fund for the Future for the Future and the Czech-German Discussion Forum commissioned a comparative public opinion survey to examine how the two countries perceive each other and their attitudes towards the European Union. The survey was conducted by the STEM non-profit institute in the Czech Republic and the Institute für Demoskopie Allensbach (Institute for Public Opinion Research) in Germany. The STEM survey was conducted on a representative sample of the Czech population aged 16 and over from 30 November to 12 December 2016. Respondents were selected using a quota sampling method, with some 1,039 people taking part in the survey. The IfD Allensbach survey was conducted on a representative sample of the German population aged 16 and over from 1 December to 15 December 2016. 12. 2016. Some 1,459 respondents took part in the survey.The following press release looks at Czech and German attitudes towards the European Union. Respondents in the two countries were given a list of fifteen statements depicting the characteristics of the European Union. They were asked to select those statements which they felt best describe the EU; there was no limit on the number of statements they could choose.The findings were interesting insofar as the Germans have stronger views on the European Union than the Czechs, irrespective of whether they are negative or positive.Czechs tend to stick to the middle ground, choosing less favourable, but also less unfavourable statements. In both countries we have seen that the public is instinctively more willing to respond to negative questions rather than to positive ones.The Czechs highly rate the EU’s vast economic strength and value the EU as a guarantee of peace in Europe. The Germans, in addition to these two positive characteristics, also see the role of the EU as essential in terms of competition with the world powers.The Czechs most criticized the EU for interfering in the affairs of individual member states, while the Germans were most critical of the level of bureaucracy involved.
Source: STEM and IfD Allensbach, December 2016
In response to whether the different regions should be able to deal with issues at national level or at European level, Germans were much more likely than Czechs to favour a pan-European solution. Nonetheless, they do agree on what comes first in terms of European cooperation, with a common foreign and security policy at number one for the citizens of both countries. A common solution to the refugee crisis is also a major priority in the case of the Germans, coming in a close second.
Source: STEM and IfD Allensbach, December 2016*Secondary School Leaving Certificate, equiv. A Levels in the UK, High School Diploma in the US
On the issue of the refugee crisis, the basic distribution of responses was identical for the two countries. More than half the population in both Germany and the Czech Republic was somewhat confident that a solution would be found to the situation in Europe. Germans were more likely to believe so than Czechs, whose attitudes, however, did not differ much from citizens of former East Germany.When asked whether they believed that their government had responded appropriately to the challenges associated with the refugee crises, citizens of both countries reacted identically. Approximately 70 % of the population of Germany and the Czech Republic said they were at least somewhat confident in their government’s response to the crisis.
Source: STEM and IfD Allensbach, December 2016
Source: STEM and IfD Allensbach, December 2016
