Czech President Milos Zeman has called for a referendum on exiting the European Union and NATO - just a week after the Brexit vote.

Nearly 50 per cent of Czechs support staying in the EU, while 34 per cent are in favour of leaving, according to a June poll by the Median agency.

Zeman insisted he himself would vote against leaving when he spoke with voters in a small Czech town on Thursday, Czech Radio said on its website.

Czech President Milos Zeman (pictured) has called for a referendum on exiting the European Union and NATO - just a week after the Brexit vote

'I disagree with those who are in favour of leaving the EU,' the 71-year-old outspoken leftist said.

'But I'll do my best to have a referendum so they can express themselves. The same goes for a NATO exit.'

The Czech Republic, which joined the NATO Western defence alliance in 1999 and the EU in 2004, does not have a referendum law.

But in March, parliament began debating a referendum bill that would need backing from 120 of 200 lawmakers to pass.

The bill would give the green light to referendum proposals backed by at least 250,000 signatures in the country of 10.5 million people.

However it would not allow voters to decide on issues - such as an EU exit - that would lead the country to breach international obligations.

This afternoon, the Czech government said it had no intention of holding any referendum on European Union or NATO membership.

Zeman insisted he himself would vote against leaving when he spoke with voters in a small Czech town on Thursday, Czech Radio said on its website

'Membership in these organisations is a guarantee of stability and security,' Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka's spokesman said in a statement.

'The government is not considering taking any steps which would question in any way our membership and the long-term orientation of the Czech Republic's foreign policy. Therefore it does not envisage any referendum.'

Andrej Babis, leader of the ANO party that rules with Sobotka's Social Democrats in the centre-left cabinet, said a referendum would be damaging, according to news website Novinky.cz.

Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, the acting foreign minister for Spain, which wants to prevent the autonomous region of Catalonia from breaking away, also called Zeman's referendum suggestion 'a very bad idea'.