A new survey by the Szazadveg Institute found that the European people consider migration the biggest threat against peace and socio-economic prosperity.
Conducted between January 7th and March 21st 2019, the survey builds on the answers provided by 35.038, randomly-selected adults from 28 countries, including Ukraine and the Western-Balkan countries.
“The additional flux of immigrants would increase the likelihood of cultural conflicts,” responded 63 percent of the people hailing from the founding member states. When it comes to diversity, Luxemburg citizens were amongst the rare few to take a more liberal approach, with 61 percent of the population feeling positive or sceptical about the topic.
On the other hand, 85 percent of Bulgarians stringently oppose migration. They were closely followed by the people of the Czech Republic, 83 percent of whom disagree with the integration of people from other countries. 84 percent of Hungarians are strongly against the influx of masses of immigrants.
In 2016, about 47 percent of people believed that migrants come to the EU because they don’t feel safe in their country of origin. This has shifted significantly in the past few years - by 2019, 55 percent of the population realized that many want to move to Europe in the hope of gaining access to a more generous benefit system, and to enjoy far better-founded welfare packages.
Finally, 55 percent believe that former socialist countries have handled the immigration crisis the best - further proving the success of the vast efforts laid down by the Hungarian government. Initiatives, such as Hungary Helps goes to show that the crisis should be handled locally, in the affected countries - instead of inciting potentially-lethal, historic conflicts within Europe.
Photo credit: szazadveg.hu