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One in five Europeans sees migration as biggest threat to national security

One in five Europeans sees migration as biggest threat to national security

24 August 2020, by Abi Carter

One in five Europeans is concerned about immigration, according to a new survey by YouGov - many think it’s more of a threat than climate change or terrorism. 

Europeans more concerned about migration than climate change

A new survey has found that a fifth of EU residents consider migration to be the greatest threat to security in their country. According to the representative study, published by polling institute YouGov last week, immigration leads the list of possible threats to Europeans, with 21 percent of respondents naming it as their greatest concern, ahead of the consequences of climate change (17 percent). 

With 64 percent, Greeks most frequently rated migration as a threat to their own country, compared to the 24 percent of Germans who were of this opinion. While 16 percent of the Germans surveyed named climate change as the greatest national threat, concern about climate change is highest in Poland (24 percent) and Denmark (21 percent). Terrorism is of most concern to people in France (23 percent) and the UK (21 percent). 

Majority believe NATO is important for improving defence

The survey also touched on respondents’ opinions on defence within the EU and their view on NATO. Of the Europeans surveyed, 46 percent said they have no confidence in the EU when it comes to improving military defence. 59 percent were of the opinion that NATO is important for defence in their own country. 

The survey also showed that half of the individuals surveyed in Europe (exactly 50 percent) have confidence in their respective governments to improve military defences in their own country. The Swedes (34 percent) and Germans (36 percent) have comparatively the lowest level of trust. 

The YouGov survey was carried out on behalf of the European University Institute and interviewed 21.779 people from 13 EU member states and the UK between April 17 and 29, 2020. 

Abi

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Abi Carter

Abi studied History & German at the University of Manchester. She has since worked as a writer, editor and content marketeer, but still has a soft spot for museums, castles...

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clarksheng 09:27 | 25 August 2020

The point-based system will stop new migrants coming to Germany for the following reasons, 1. Extremely high income-tax bracket. 2. Language barrier. 3. Cultural differences, unwillingness & inability to accept ex-pats by natives. Given the facts that most immigrants countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and the UK have are from Asia, for instance, India, China, and Philipine etc. Young talents from those countries would have much fewer difficulties in language-related issues when considering migrating to English speaking countries and it is simply not worthy to spend another 3 years on learning a new language which only spoken by a very small portion of the world. On top of this, cultural wisely, Germans are much less likely to tolerate other NON-EU nationals in terms of their own customs, values and ways of life. From my own experience of living in Berlin for a year and a half, sometimes, the cultural environment could become just too hostile to bear. One sad example is my 4-year-old boy was told to leave the playground for not speaking German. Last but not least, life quality is another challenge for people who have lived in those English Speaking countries. Honestly speaking, the only 2 things relatively cheaper in Germany are food and 0-4-year-olds daycare. However, when being grateful about the unreasonably high income-tax granting some free medical benefits, please don't forget, a 40-50% of your family total income that is taxed by the government can also pay most of the bills by yourself, plus, correct me if I am wrong, the medical benefit only applies to one's family when the income meets some criteria, which in New Zealand, that is totally free to every citizen and residents. Therefore, as one of the ex-pats and migrants myself, we are leaving and maybe only missing the friends here but definitely not the country.