Poll finds low levels of immigration tolerance in Europe

Feb 2007

The results of a survey on perceptions of migrants and migration make worrying reading for those concerned about integration and tolerance in Europe.

The survey, carried out as part of the EU-funded FEMAGE (Needs for female immigrants and their integration in ageing societies) project, drew upon the views of 21,000 native citizens in eight European countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia.

Two thirds of respondents in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia thought that there were too many foreigners in their country, while nearly half of Austrians held this belief.

In all countries, respondents were found to have more negative attitudes to foreigners than positive attitudes...

Policy-makers often say that immigration is a partial remedy for population decline... Only 5% of Estonians and 8% of Czechs favour 'replacement' immigration.

... more than half of those surveyed in every country shared the opinion that an increase in foreigners favours the spread of crime and terrorism. In the Czech Republic as many as 8 out of 10 people agreed with this statement...

In Western Germany, more than half of those asked agreed with the statement 'the presence of foreigners is positive because it allows an exchange with other cultures'. In the Czech Republic and Estonia, only 30% of respondents aligned themselves with this statement.

The survey also found a correlation between traditional, conservative views of gender roles and migration. 'The more individuals advocate the traditional position of women in the family, the more they express negative attitudes towards immigrants in all countries studied,' reads the report.

... An overwhelming majority of respondents in six countries (all but Austria and Poland) said that foreigners who have not integrated after five years should return to their country of origin...

Most of those surveyed were against involvement in political life and the decision-making process via voting rights as a means to integration. Only 48% of Finns questioned thought that voting rights should be conferred after five years of residence, while the figure sank to 20% for Hungary.

'This meaning of integration and the prevalence of agreement that non-integrated foreigners should return to their own country, which cut across all countries irrespective of the lower or higher levels of xenophobia observed, appears to leave little scope for the policy discourse of multiculturalism as egalitarian mutual adaptation,' warn the project partners...