Support for the European Union has grown since Donald Trump took office. It is the highest in its entire history to date.

Czechs are often skeptical of their surroundings. Often the fear of the unknown is to blame. The scare is not only migration, but also the European Union itself, into which we joined more than twenty years ago, based on a referendum. What usually bothers critics? According to surveys, these are primarily various regulations and bureaucracy, insufficient border control, and crime, which is allegedly associated with it. However, some also fear a threat to our cultural identity or greater competition in the labor market.

The most pronounced are supporters of those political groups that either openly or secretly lean towards authoritarian regimes. These include supporters of the Labour Party, communists, Okamura's SPD and Tricolor. On the other hand, there are voters of STAN, TOP 09 and KDU-CSL.

Strengthening defense and peace protection is first and foremost

According to the latest survey, which involved more than 26 thousand respondents, including the Czech Republic, 74 percent of them consider membership in the Union to be beneficial. Especially with regard to strengthening defense and peace protection in our country. About two thirds of the respondents agree with this opinion. This is the highest recorded result in the Eurobarometer survey since 1983, when this question first appeared in the questionnaire.

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There are several reasons why we put our safety among the priorities. Three years ago, after Crimea, Russia tried to gain another piece of foreign territory and attacked Ukraine. Moreover, the new American administration has re-assessed the earlier course, clearly indicating that Europe has to take more care of itself.

Among other things, this approach is confirmed by the recently leaked communication of the American administration, which was subsequently published by the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg. Vice President J. D. Vance is quoted as saying he "hates having to save Europe again". His national security advisor Mike Waltz responded that he “fully shares an aversion to European freeloading”.

"We need to have a good overview of what is happening in our environment, but we also need to have internal security under control - whether it's illegal migration, trust in the state, or resilience to hybrid threats,"

Prime Minister Petr Fiala said in this context at the recent conference Our Security is Not a Given.

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Protection against global crises

The way to achieve higher security as one of the main political priorities is a unified approach of individual countries that are part of the Union. Nearly 80 percent of Czechs who participated in the survey are convinced of this.

Half of us then think that the European Union should play a more important role in protecting against global crises and security risks. For comparison: in Poland, 44 are convinced of this, in Romania 47, and in Sweden even 87 percent of citizens.

"The European Parliament will ensure that every proposal to be discussed will be bold and ambitious enough to match the seriousness of the threats Europe faces. Europe must start acting immediately, otherwise it risks being overrun soon,"

said in a press release the Chairwoman of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

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Economic Support

Among the main topics that citizens believe the European Parliament should prioritize are security and the economy. This is the view of almost 40 percent of Czechs. Four in ten Europeans particularly mention inflation, rising prices, and the cost of living.

Inflation, rising prices, and cost of living are the main priorities across all age groups. The highest numbers were recorded in Portugal, France, and Slovakia, where over 56 percent of respondents agree with this opinion. In Croatia and Estonia, it's 54 and in our country, 47 percent of people.

For nearly a third of Europeans, the fight against poverty and social exclusion and the creation of new jobs also plays a crucial role.

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Nevertheless, more than half of Czechs remain skeptical. The prevailing view is that there will be no changes in the standard of living over the next five years. More than a third of Czech citizens even expect it to decrease. Only 9 percent of us anticipate an increase.

And what is the reality? The condition of the domestic economy has slightly improved in the last twelve months, as evidenced by the latest data from the Czech Statistical Office.

"Household earnings have been growing in real terms last year and during the year the growth of domestic consumption gradually strengthened. The weakening foreign demand affected export-oriented industrial sectors, on the other hand, services were successful. Hence, our economy grew by 1 percent in 2024,"

stated for LP-Life vice-chairman of the Czech Statistical Office Jaroslav Sixta.

Current external pressures from Russia and the United States are leading to the fact that European nations are starting to rely more on the European Union again. This represents a great challenge and opportunity for it to defend its functioning. Will it be able to handle it?

Sources: own questioning, European Parliament, Czech Statistical Office, ČTK