47% of EU citizens believe integration of migrants unsuccessful in their countries

Source: Schengen Visa Info

12,460 or 47 percent of the respondents from the Special Eurobarometer survey, which tackled the integration of immigrants in the European Union, have estimated unsuccessful migrants’ integration at the national level.

According to the survey with 26,510 respondents from all European Member States, only 53 percent believe that their national government has made enough efforts to promote the integration of migrants into society, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Although 38 percent of respondents claim they are updated on such a situation, 68 percent of them overestimate the real number of the immigrant population in their countries.

Furthermore, 50 percent of them consider that the integration of migrants is sufficient or even successful in their respective areas. Still, they don’t believe the same for integration at the national level. About 69 percent also say they are actively promoting immigrants’ integration, as it is a necessary investment for their country for the long term.

However, when asked about the alternatives immigrants have to better integrate into their respective societies, 85 percent of respondents believe that immigrants should at least speak one of the official languages in the EU.

Seven in ten EU citizens claim integration is a two-way process, making both host society and immigrants responsible for successful integration, while 18 percent say that is immigrants’ responsibility while another ten percent attributes this responsibility to the national society.

The respondents also claim that integration is a high priority on their national government’s agenda, with 53 percent saying so while 15 percent view it as a top priority. That is lower than those who consider immigrants’ integration a low priority (27 percent).

Additionally, 43 percent of EU citizens believe that the issue should remain about the same on its national government policy agenda, indicating it has to be considered a high priority but not a top priority. In comparison, 35 percent think it should be placed higher on their country’s list. A total of 17 percent say it should be lower, while five percent claim they don’t know.

When asked how comfortable they would feel having an immigrant as their manager, Irish respondents were the most ‘totally comfortable’ at 93 percent, compared to four percent that would be ‘totally uncomfortable’.

On the other end of the scale are Hungarian citizens, with 55 percent saying they wouldn’t feel comfortable while 36 percent being uncomfortable in such a situation. The most common answer of the EU citizens was ‘totally comfortable’ as 73 percent answered while 19 percent claimed they wouldn’t be comfortable at all.