Economics
Euroskeptic Campaign Backfires to Boost Czech Support for EU
- Support for EU among Czechs rose to 51% from 35%, poll shows
- Poland has the most favorable view of the West despite slump
Tomio Okamura
Photographer: Yann Coatsaliou/AFP via Getty Images
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Political campaigns aimed at triggering a Brexit-like departure from the European Union backfired in the Czech Republic last year to produce a surge of support for membership in what was once the bloc’s most euroskeptic state.
The number of Czechs who see EU membership as "a good thing" rose to 51 percent from 35 percent a year earlier, Globsec, a Bratislava-based think tank, said in a report released Thursday, citing opinion polls. In contrast, backing fell in Poland and Hungary, whose governments are clashing with the European Commission over whether they’re undermining the bloc’s democratic standards.