The Czech Republic's haste in closing the chapters, essential for joining the European Union, was reminiscent of the races at the end of 2001 in which it managed to overtake Hungary in the final stretch and, in a race against time for one chapter, was breathing down Slovenia's neck. The Czech Republic has thus closed 24 of the 30 chapters and has become the number two candidate.
As a counterpoint to this eagerness, some facts stand out: the question of the Czech population's knowledge and the speeches of the leader of the ODS party, Václav Klaus. Regarding the Czechs' relationship with the EU, the population remains poorly informed. The Czech Republic planned an information campaign about the EU for its citizens only for 2002. Surveys published in the press (investigating readers' knowledge of the European Union) and the "European spots" produced by public television and websites have not succeeded in ensuring sufficient knowledge among citizens for ordinary people to fully understand the issue. Above all, it is important to avoid stirring up fears among the elderly, such as whether pensions will be abolished after the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union, or whether prices will not immediately rise to Western levels (without a corresponding increase in wages). The recruitment of "the Euro-optimists" is not helped much either, when, for example, a cashier in a store adds to a consumer's purchase the lament that after joining the European Union food prices are going to rise (by 20%) and it's better not to live to see it.
Despite the limited information available and the widespread disillusionment among Czechs regarding the European Union, more than half of them—specifically 54% in the case of a referendum (had it been held at the end of 2001)—would have supported the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union. As for Czechs' willingness to replace the Czech koruna with the single European currency, only 6% of the population would be opposed. For 62% of Czechs, the euro presents no problems. Support for the common currency increases with the age of the respondents. In post-communist Europe, the Czech Republic is the second most enthusiastic country about the euro, after Hungary. However, two-thirds of the population believe they are not sufficiently informed about EU issues. This creates a fertile ground for the perpetuation of myths, which Václav Klaus exploits in his pre-election campaign.
Although Václav Klaus's public appearances in Brussels have become a familiar part of the process of negotiating our accession to the European Union, on this occasion, the outspokenness of the leader of the Czech Republic in Brussels on December 5, 2001, even prompted a reaction from the Head of State himself. Czech President Václav Havel immediately wrote to Parliament demanding an explanation for Klaus's speech in Brussels, in which he warned against European integration and called for a halt to the continent's clandestine unification.
Klaus's heated reactions were criticized more within the country than in Brussels. If he had any right to make such statements, it should not have been as an official representative, and even less so as the representative of the Czech Republic. Klaus did not act as an independent economist or a leader of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but rather as the Speaker of the Czech Parliament. His rejection of "the stealthy and silent unification (the euro, the common foreign and defense policy, the European constitution, etc.)" may have appeared to be an official statement from the Czech side. However, support for joining the European Union predominates in the Czech Parliament. Klaus dislikes "the federation of nation-states," yet at the same time says that "the Czech Republic has no option but to join the EU" and that "the process of integration into Europe is inevitable."
He tries to convince his voters that EU membership will not bring them any significant benefits. In his opinion, it would be more advantageous for the Czech Republic to join only the single market, not the union limited by economic, monetary, legislative, and social restrictions and rules. He says that the member states could become an impoverished periphery of the European superstate. His reserved attitude toward the Union is demonstrated by polls showing that only 40% of the inhabitants of EU member states want enlargement, and this low percentage is even more discouraging. Against "the furtive unification of Europe," he argues with the example of Germany, where, ten years after reunification, significant differences between the West and East persist. Regarding the euro, he says ironically that it needs a group of European bureaucrats who have breakfast in Venice, lunch in Paris, and dinner in Copenhagen, and that's why they need the single currency—so they don't have to exchange money three times a day.
Six months before the elections in the Czech Republic, Klaus began to arouse suspicion that his speeches in Brussels were more of a message to his constituents than to Europe, since the nature of the country's political and governmental structure was at stake, a matter that would be decided in the June 2002 elections. Klaus's free pre-election campaign in Brussels was immediately followed in the Czech Republic by speeches to supporters of his right-wing party, whom he tried to convince that the European Union was a social-democratic product. With his attacks on "national pride at any cost," Klaus provided entertainment. In a pre-Christmas comic, he appeared as the "pure" Czech determined to buy his family gifts under the Christmas tree that were purely Czech in origin, products from Czech companies. But since neither the famous Czech beer Pilsen is Czech, nor is the Skoda car factory (it's owned by the Germans)..., Klaus's family ends up without Christmas presents.
A few years ago, Václav Klaus voluntarily bought "Euroexpress" tickets for his fellow countrymen. However, now, on the train that has already accelerated, he tries to pull the emergency brake, because he spotted the elections through the window, and he tries to make his fellow passengers believe that they are not free passengers, but merely a mass transport of victims.
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