Czechs Trust Their Government Least of All Europeans, Recent Poll Suggests

According to Eurobarometer, a survey conducted by the European Commission, the share of Czech citizens who trust the national government plunged from 40 to 19 percent in year-on-year terms, which constitutes the lowest rate in the entire Union.

The survey, which was published in May, also illustrates that Czech confidence in the European Union rose from 39 to 48 percent year-on-year, the highest level since 2013.

Czechs do not favour the parliament, either. The share of people who trust that legislative body dipped from 25 to 15 percent. Conversely, confidence in international organizations, such as the UN, increased dramatically, reaching 57 percent compared with 45 percent trust last year.

The average confidence in national governments and parliaments of all the EU countries is approximately 36 percent. Public trust in the Union averaged at 49 percent, which is similar to the level of trust Czechs maintain.

That being said, the Czech Republic remains one of the countries with the least confidence in the EU. Trust in a Union is the highest in Portugal with 78 percent and the lowest in Finland with 37 percent.

Distrust of the Czech government is also reflected in the respondents’ views on the level of democracy in the country. Whereas in the previous survey, 66 percent of Czechs were satisfied with the functioning of democracy in the Czech Republic, now it is only 45 percent. In the EU, average satisfaction with how national democracies operate reached 55 percent.

Poll results also showcase Czechs do not confide in their government when it comes to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic; they mostly believe the medical staff in that respect.

The European Union also enjoys greater public confidence than the national government, including the issues concerning the vaccination process. What people expect most from the EU is to secure vaccines as quickly as possible, which, according to the vast majority of Czechs, are the key to stall the pandemic.

The measures implemented in the Czech Republic against the spread of the coronavirus are considered justified by 68 percent of Czechs.

However, a mere 24 percent of respondents are satisfied with the way the Czech government applies the restrictions. By contrast, 48 percent of those surveyed approve of the measures implemented by regional authorities, and 40 percent of people are satisfied with the measures implemented by the EU.

Compared to last year, the Czech population’s confidence in the economy also plummeted. 30 percent of respondents deem the current economic situation decent, whilst in the previous Eurobarometer it was positively assessed by 71 percent of Czechs.

Nonetheless, a large part of the population still has a positive view of the financial situation of individual households and employment in the Czech Republic.