I have created 9 new maps based on the EU Commission's Eurobarometer poll results for Autumn 2019. I will compare them with other maps I made earlier.
Democracy
This map shows the percentage of the population that is satisfied with the way democracy works in their country at the moment (well in late 2019). Satisfaction is much higher in Germanic countries and Ireland than anywhere else.
Yet, it does not bear any correlation with the actual level of democracy as assessed by The Economist's Democracy Index for 2019. In other words, people in many countries are out of touch with reality and may confuse how democratic their institutions are with their dissatisfaction with other issues like the economy or immigration.
Immigration and free movement within the European Union
This is a particularly important issues for Europeans and one of the main reasons behind Brexit.
When asked whether they are in favour of EU citizens being able to live, study and work freely within the European Union, the vast majority of Europeans agreed. Support was lowest in the UK but nevertheless at 69%.
When polled about what they thought about other EU citizens moving to their country, the majority had positive feelings. This was especially true in Nordic countries, Germany, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. The Italians, Greeks, Latvians and above all the Czechs and Slovaks had more mixed feelings about welcoming their fellow Europeans.
When it came to immigrants from outside the EU, feelings were clearly more negative everywhere, bordering on xenophobic in countries that saw a large influx of Muslim refugees over the last 15 years.
So, should the EU have a common migration policy to better control immigration from outside the EU and maybe redirect the flow of refugees more evenly across member states? Here we see a clear east-west divide, except for Greece and Cyprus siding with Western Europe and the UK with the eastern half of the EU. From what I remember from the news about the massive arrival of Muslim refugees, countries like Poland, Czechia, Slovakia or Hungary absolutely do not want t take any of these refugees, which is probably why they would oppose a common EU policy that may require them to accept refugees against their will. As we have seen in the two maps above, xenophobia runs quite high in those countries. It's strange that Czechs and Slovaks don't even want other EU citizens in their own country (let alone Muslims).
Democracy
This map shows the percentage of the population that is satisfied with the way democracy works in their country at the moment (well in late 2019). Satisfaction is much higher in Germanic countries and Ireland than anywhere else.
Yet, it does not bear any correlation with the actual level of democracy as assessed by The Economist's Democracy Index for 2019. In other words, people in many countries are out of touch with reality and may confuse how democratic their institutions are with their dissatisfaction with other issues like the economy or immigration.
Immigration and free movement within the European Union
This is a particularly important issues for Europeans and one of the main reasons behind Brexit.
When asked whether they are in favour of EU citizens being able to live, study and work freely within the European Union, the vast majority of Europeans agreed. Support was lowest in the UK but nevertheless at 69%.
When polled about what they thought about other EU citizens moving to their country, the majority had positive feelings. This was especially true in Nordic countries, Germany, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. The Italians, Greeks, Latvians and above all the Czechs and Slovaks had more mixed feelings about welcoming their fellow Europeans.
When it came to immigrants from outside the EU, feelings were clearly more negative everywhere, bordering on xenophobic in countries that saw a large influx of Muslim refugees over the last 15 years.
So, should the EU have a common migration policy to better control immigration from outside the EU and maybe redirect the flow of refugees more evenly across member states? Here we see a clear east-west divide, except for Greece and Cyprus siding with Western Europe and the UK with the eastern half of the EU. From what I remember from the news about the massive arrival of Muslim refugees, countries like Poland, Czechia, Slovakia or Hungary absolutely do not want t take any of these refugees, which is probably why they would oppose a common EU policy that may require them to accept refugees against their will. As we have seen in the two maps above, xenophobia runs quite high in those countries. It's strange that Czechs and Slovaks don't even want other EU citizens in their own country (let alone Muslims).
