Most Czechs say their country accepted too many refugees, poll finds

The results of a poll by the  Czech Center for Public Opinion Research (CVVM) institute released Monday show that 58 percent of Czechs share the view that the country has accepted more refugees from Ukraine than it can handle. About one-third consider the situation adequate, and 5 percent say Czechia could have accepted more refugees.

The Czech Interior Ministry recently announced that about 339,000 Ukrainian refugees now have temporary protection. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Czech Republic has issued nearly 600,000 temporary protections, half of which have expired.

The poll found that 32 percent of Czechs believe the country accepted far more refugees than it can handle, and 26 percent believe it accepted more refugees than it can handle.

"Those who say that there are far more refugees than Czechia can handle often have low education levels, and they are dissatisfied with their life, their household’s standard of living, and the political situation," the CVVM institute said.

When asked about the integration of Ukrainian refugees into society, the pollsters said the proportion of those who assess it positively has increased to 55 percent, up 9 percentage points from last summer.

Roughly one-tenth of the respondents favor the possibility of permanently settling Ukrainian refugees in Czechia, three-fifths favor only temporary admission followed by a return to their homeland as soon as possible, and 28 percent said the country should not have accepted refugees from Ukraine at all.

"In this respect, the stances of the Czech population are more or less the same as in the autumn of 2022," CVVM said.

More than half of the respondents consider refugees from Ukraine to be a problem for the Czech Republic, while two-fifths believe they do not pose a problem for the country. When asked about the neighborhood where the respondents lived, only one in four said there were problems with the refugees.

The poll was conducted among more than 1,000 people over 15 from Jan. 26 to March 11.