European public opinion and the EU following the peak of the migration crisis

At the end of 2015, the difficult rise of favourable attitudes to the EU suddenly stopped, along with the development of a major migration crisis. How have these attitudes changed since then? What is the state of the public opinion one year on? What are the attitudes of citizens in European countries with regard to immigration?

In this Policy Paper, Daniel Debomy, director of OPTEM and Alain Tripier, director of Sereho, start by providing an overview of opinion on the European Union in its various member states, analysing the results of the European Commission’s Eurobarometer surveys, in addition to some aspects based on data from the European Parliament’s Parlemeter surveys.

Analysis of opinion in the different countries confirms the observation of a great disparity within the EU; however, a majority of citizens are not breaking away from the European project even if they are increasingly expressing dissatisfaction and concern.

As the peak of the migration crisis passed, despite a decline in 2016, immigration clearly remains the most important concern for the EU in citizens’ opinion, and a problem for their country amid other economic and social concerns. The analysis conducted on these points does, however, highlight highly contrasting attitudes.

This Policy Paper follows on from the study published in 2016 by the Jacques Delors Institute, entitled “The EU, despite everything? European public opinion in the face of crisis“.