Posted on December 18, 2017

Poll: Four Fifths of Czechs Are Against Migrant Quotas

ČTK, Prague Daily Monitor, December 15, 2017

Four fifths of Czechs said the Czech Republic should not be fulfilling the EU quotas for accepting asylum seekers, according to the latest poll by the CVVM public opinion research centre released on Thursday.

While 55 percent of the respondents said a definite no to the quotas, 25 percent tended to reject them and 11 percent supported them.

The poll corresponds to a view of the public on the acceptance of migrants from Muslim countries even if facing the situation of the country losing the EU funds due to it. The latter threat does not impact the public opinion, CVVM wrote.

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 81 and 82 percent of the countries’ respondents, respectively, were opposed to the acceptance of migrants from Muslim countries and in Poland 74 percent were opposed to it.

The opposition to meeting the quotas slightly decreases with an improving living standard and it is higher among voters of the left.

On the other hand, a higher share of those agreeing with the quotas is among the voters of the right centre.

At an informal meeting this evening within the two-day EU summit in Brussels, the solution to the migration crisis will be debated.

The Visegrad Four countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary) presented their willingness to help resolve the situation in another way than by accepting the asylum seekers at a joint meeting with EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and Italian PM Paolo Gentiloni.

From April to October, the share of Czechs absolutely rejecting to accept refugees from countries hit by arms conflicts markedly increased to 69 percent. One fourth of Czechs would accept these refugees temporarily.

Slovaks hold a similar position, while Poles are more open to accepting refugees from regions hit by war.

Most Czechs consider refugees a major security threat for Europe (88 percent of them), the world (78 percent) and their country (76 percent).