Czechia in the EU

Czechia, a country with a rich cultural and historical tapestry, became a member of the European Union (EU) in 2004. This video will take you through Czechia's journey within the EU, highlighting its political, economic, and cultural landmarks. We'll delve into how Czechia, despite its modest size, holds a pivotal role in the EU and its interactions with fellow member states. The focus will be on the symbiotic relationship between Czechia and the EU, underscoring both the achievements and hurdles they've navigated together. Join us to explore how Czechia has been an essential part of the EU, showcasing resilience and flexibility in a narrative of ongoing cooperation and influence. This exploration aims to shed light on Czechia's distinctive contributions and its status within the European Union.

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[loza]

I have lived in Prague in 2007 for six months. I have managed to learn a Czech language, and travel all around the country.
Czechia was the first ever foreign country for me to visit and live in. I was 20 years old then. Despite being literally russian Ivan (born and raised in Tomsk, Siberia), I was so welcomed everywhere. Before going there some russians told me - "don't tell anyone you're russian, they gonna beat you up", and other bs like that.

I am 37 now, and I've since lived in six other countries (five of which EU members) - I have never since experienced so much welcome, so much kindness, so much love from locals. Czechs are the sweetest, funniest and most open-hearted people ever. A do ted' miluju Cesko, miluji Cesi, porad mluvim cestinou, kdyz nekoho z Cech potkam. Cesy jsou vsude :D A jste vsechni roztomile lidy! <3 Hezky pozdravi z Barcelony! Ahoj! Ivanek, kamarad :D

[herdek]

As a Czech I can say that the information in this video is very accurate. I haven't noticed any misleading facts. And even some obscure information was mentioned which I wouldn't expect anyone outside of Czechia to know.

[kosmicheskiprah]

One of the best and modern, pacific, peaceful Slavic countries. Warm greeting from Bulgaria. We love your trams and in 2026 use your metro in Sofia. Oh yeah, the best beer in the world.

[yuli]

Love Czechia from Bulgaria. Fascinating history, delicious food, and super friendly people 🇧🇬💖🇨🇿

[benjaminbires]

As Slovak Czechs are my brothers we share history, culture and more

[albevanhanoy]

I am French, but I have 3 coworkers and one excellent friend from Czechia. I am glad the EU exists and removed all barriers between us. I only wish I had more free time so I could visit this wonderful country.

[martinking]

Love to Czechia from Norway ❤ Visiting a beatiful places like Prague and Kutna Hora, having delicious food and good beer in traditional medival tavern and talking with friendly locals was an amazing experience. ❤

[milanpisl]

As a Czech I must say that Im really gratefull for this video. Many similar vids are not based on facts and misleading. This one is positive and even makes me think about our future as a nation. Cheers from Czechia.😄😄

[eevoanathema]

I personally voted for Prague as the most beautiful city, because frankly it is. Czech beer is by far the best I have ever tested, food is perfect, people are super nice, best heavy metal festivals, etc…keep it up, friends. Cheers from Sofia 🇨🇿🍻🇧🇬

[LordofMinnegard]

Czechia is a culturally rich nation in the heart of Europe. Truly an enrichment to the union.

[FrostenFrusten]

Perfect match! Much love from Italy to our Czech friends!!!🇪🇺🇨🇿🇮🇹

[FemboyDisciples]

I love my Neighbor Czechia from Poland! <3
I cant wait Episode about Poland ^^

[jancervinka]

As a Czech, I'm super proud to be part of EU. Most of the eurosceptics thoughts comes from our politicians. They used to use EU as an excuse for everything "Not us but the devil EU dictated us to do it." Unfortunately, a lot of ppl in Czechia don't know how exactly EU works. This year we're celebrating 20 years in the EU. I hope the EU will handle all of the challenges and we will be stronger than ever, togetrher. United in diversity.

[PradedaCech]

Czechia was a province of larger empires for several centuries, so it is easy for populists there to exploit every move from the EU as another instance of "foreign bureaucrats are telling us what to do as in the old days." Czechia is too small to have a real impact on EU policy, so not many people consider that those decisions are also made by Czech bureaucrats and politicians in Brussels (and Prague).

The second thing, which you mentioned in the video, is that salaries are seriously lacking in Czechia.
Some years ago, it had the worst ratio in Europe of GDP/Capita vs salaries; meaning the work being done is fairly valuable, but the salaries don't show it. In most analysis, it was said that Czechs are just too shy or afraid of their employers and don't ask for more even if they could and should. That they are more engineers than salesmen and marketers.
The low salaries, especially compared to the direct neighbours Austria and Germany, lead to massive frustration and bitterness. Well, at least the low salaries cause the lowest unemployment in the EU..

Also, if you talk about EU subsidies as A, you should say B as well; B being Western companies - not only from Western Europe - snatching up everything that wasn't nailed down (and most of what was nailed down, too) in the 90s for peanuts. I consider this a massive failure of the economic transition after Communist rule. A longer transition period and stricter conditions for foreign investors would have been better in the long run I think.
This foreign ownership of the vast majority of the economy causes billions of Crowns/Euros to be sent abroad every year as "dividends". Money that is lacking here.

[Viteekcz]

As a Czechian I can confirm almost everything, but you forgot one thing - In 1942 we managed to assassinate Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, it cost us Lidice and Ležáky, but thanks of it the allies canceled signatures of Munich Agreement so we earned territorial integrity after WWII.

Overall thank you for video and sorry for my grammar.

[chewbacca]

I'm Czech and I'm strongly pro-EU, but I think I understand the concerns some of my compatriots have.

I would say that the general discontent is connected to historical trauma. Any time in the past when we trusted somebody, we were betrayed. This happened many times even before the 20th century, but we got a combo of the West not moving a single muscle to help us.

You mentioned 1938, but deslite the guarantees that they will ensure suverenity of the remaining rump state, the west simply decided to not care at all when Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939.

Then there was the Communist coup in 1948 and protests and minor insurrections in 1953, the West didn't move a muscle.

In 1968 we were occupied by our allies, yet another betrayal and the West still didn't do anything effective.

After the Velvet Revolution, we got to join NATO only through riding the wave with Poland and I am certain that Czechia would not have succeeded on its own, the West was still sceptic.

The thing is that we don't generally believe outside powers that they mean well and generally are scared of foreign influences, we got burnt one too many times already (which is why I think that support for Euro is this low).

And now anecdotal evidence: When I was in the United Kingdom through Erasmus (pre Brexit), the host family tried to explain to me that they have warm water and plumbing and that I don't have to look for a well to get water.

In Austria, the owner of a hostel I was staying in tried to speak with me in broken Russian because we "can't speak anything else than that Russian dialect of yours".

One of my friends works in Belgium and she told me that the Belgians see us as basically Russians with some quirks and would rather let us be annexed by Russia than let Belgium get dragged into a conflict.

Various other friends have similar stories to tell.

I like the idea of the EU, but I feel that most of the Western populace still sees us as a buffer to be sacrificed so they are safe when push comes to shove.

This sceptic view is then enforced by opportunist politicians which run on platforms of "we'll show those bureaucrats!" and "we will protect you from them", which creates a feedback loop.

I'm sorry but even though I know that things change, we are still seen as a fringe of the EU by many. And unlike others, we don't have the need to entrust others unless we are certain they mean well. And given these experiences, I'm certain that we are far too removed from actually believing fully in this project.

My generation may change this, but I don't see it happening in the next 10 years.

[radored]

As Czech, I really like this video. I hope that you will continue.

[_teddy]

As a Czech person, I think this video is great! There's nothing misleading and it's interesting infomation. I agree with many opinions in the video. Great Job!

[cgt]

Great now i can tell my friends to czech out this video.

[Blabla-odvt]

I hear little about Czech politics in our media, but I deem that to be a sign of stability and functionality. Big thanks to the Czech for supporting Ukraine!