BUDAPEST, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The vast majority of the population of the Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary) are dissatisfied with the way the European Union (EU) handles illegal border crossings, according to a poll released by the Nezopont Intezet (Standpoint Institute) in Budapest on Thursday.
A total of 81 percent of the surveyed people are against the immigration policy of the EU - of which 48 percent are strongly opposed, and 33 percent rather opposed - whereas only 14 percent are satisfied with the way the EU deals with that question. Some 5 percent of the surveyed people could not answer the question.
The opposition against the EU's immigration policy is the strongest in Slovakia (85 percent) and the Czech Republic (84 percent), followed by Hungary (81 percent) and Poland (74 percent), according to the poll.
Besides general questions on the cooperation of the Visegrad countries, the poll also covered the view of the Hungarian border fence between Hungary and Serbia, elevated against the flow of migrants, and strongly criticized by other EU Member States and the UN as well.
According to the poll, 73 percent of all of those interviewed agree with the fence, while 24 percent disagree with it and 3 percent could not answer the question.
Hungarians agree with the construction of the fence in the highest rate (87 percent), and poles agree with it the least (57 percent). 74 percent of the Slovaks and 73 percent of the Czechs support the Hungarian border policy.
The poll also came to the conclusion that the vast majority (63 percent) of the population of the Visegrad countries said that their countries had better chance to represent their interests against Brussels as a member of the Visegrad four than on a one by one basis.
According to the surveyed people, the most important areas of cooperation between the four countries needed to be: the common protection of borders (25 percent); followed by the coordination of industrial policies (23 percent) and by linking the countries together with additional motorways (17 percent).
Interestingly, 73 percent of the people asked believe that the Western European countries use double standards against the Visegrad countries, and are dealing with them in a condescending manner.
The public opinion poll of the Standpoint Institute was conducted between June 29, 2017 and July 15, 2017, asking 1,000 people in each country over the phone. The sample was representative for the population over the age of 18 according to age, region, type of settlement and school qualification.
