Europe 'too far' for Czechs, Slovaks snubbing EU vote

During the last election for European Parliament five years ago, nearly all voters in the tiny Czech village of Vresova stayed away. Only 27 cast ballots, a mere nine percent.

The apathy reflected the country as a whole: the Czech Republic and neighbouring Slovakia recorded the EU's lowest turnout for the 2019 election, with 29 percent and 23 percent, respectively. The bloc average was more than 50 percent.

It's not that the 424 residents who live in Vresova are apathetic -- during the last local election in 2022, a solid 69 percent came to the polling station to cast ballots.

It's just that they don't think their vote for European elections will count for much.

"Many people here think they will not affect what is happening in the European Parliament," said Frantisek Gaspar, 35, a former bricklayer who is the village's deputy mayor.

Voter apathy in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is "due to the conviction that my vote will not change anything", Vera Jourova, a Czech EU commissioner, told AFP.

Voters "have other problems, they are interested in national and local politics", she added.

All of Vresova's residents live in four blocks of flats that originally served as dormitories for a sprawling power station across the main road.

Most of them belong to the country's largely impoverished Roma minority and are grappling with unemployment and high inflation.

"Some (people) have enough problems and don't care about politics at all," the deputy mayor told AFP.

On a recent afternoon, the handful of residents walking home from work at the end of the day seemed to underline his point.

As the aroma of cooking dinners wafted through the air after a rainfall, all said they were too tired to talk about politics.

- 'Too far' -

Although the Czech Republic and Slovakia have been members of the EU for 20 years, the idea that votes cast locally can change something in far-away Brussels has not fully taken root, observers say.

The two countries used to make up the nation of Czechoslovakia until a peaceful split in 1993, following decades of totalitarian communist rule.

Both acceded to the EU in 2004, and Slovakia also joined the eurozone in 2009.

"Czechs are not fully aware that this election matters," said Martin Dvorak, Czech minister for EU affairs.

"It's too far for them, it's that weird Brussels they don't understand, they don't know how the EU works," he told AFP.

Metropolitan University Prague analyst Petr Just blamed low awareness of what the European Parliament actually does.

"People don't feel the urge to go to the polls because they think the EU is not doing enough for them," he told AFP.

Just said voters were also discouraged by the bloc's critics, who dominate social media, even though not all Czechs and Slovaks are eurosceptic.

In a recent poll by Central European Perspectives researchers, 58 percent of Czechs and 68 percent of Slovaks said EU membership was beneficial for their country.

- 'We could have done better' -

Bratislava-based Comenius University analyst Pavol Babos said Slovak voters struggled to figure out "what the EU election is about", blaming the poor awareness on politicians.

European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola admitted in Prague earlier this year that politicians were not doing enough.

"We could have done better and we need to be the ones to admit it because if we don't, then voters will find comfort on the political fringes and that's not what we want," she said.

- Bloc with benefits -

In Vresova, the deputy mayor hopes the turnout will rise as residents see the benefits of EU funds in their daily lives.

He is busy dealing with local issues -- expanding Vresova's housing options and finding a landing spot for a Slovak rapper's helicopter ahead of his concert here.

He is proud of a new playground and a revamped local pub and shop run by the villagers themselves.

"We have done this using our own funds," Gaspar said, the sense of community being ever-present as the pub is called "Our Place".

"But we also apply when there is an offer of EU funds," he added.

Vresova is currently running two social welfare projects financed by the EU.

"They have employed a few people, which is great," Gaspar said.

"So maybe the locals could finally go to the polls now that they can see the benefits."

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