Czech Republic

After the fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, and after that country had undergone its peaceful split into two countries, the new government of the Czech Republic was keen to apply for membership of the EC/EU due to its ability to offer both political and economic stability. The Czech Republic adopted a European Agreement with the EC in October 1993 and made its official application for EU membership in January 1996. It was therefore one of the later CEECs to apply for EU membership. Despite this late application, the Czech Republic was amongst the first wave of applicant countries to be invited to begin accession talks at the Luxembourg European Council in 1997. On 1 May 2004 the Czech Republic joined the EU. Despite the sometimes Eurosceptical position of the Czech Republic ex-Prime Minister and now President, Václav Klaus, the country was strongly supportive of EU accession throughout the negotiation process. This was confirmed in a referendum held in June 2003, in which 77.3% of voters supported accession (although the turnout was rather low at just 55.2%). Support for the EU has since stabilized around the average level for the EU as a whole, with 52% of respondents claiming the country's membership of the EU was a good thing in a Eurobarometer survey conducted in spring 2006 (compared to an average of 55%).

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Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Czech Republic.

Czech Republic