Racism ‘on the rise’ in Europe

Date: 22/03/01

A RISING number of EU citizens believe that ethnic minorities threaten social peace and welfare, according to a survey released this week.

The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, which interviewed 16,000 people across the Union, found that 52% believe minority groups have a destabilising effect. The figure is up from 48% in 1997.

Two-thirds of Belgians and French people believe that minority groups are harming their welfare systems, but only 37% of Spanish people and 42% of Italians feel the same way.

The report, published by the Vienna based monitoring centre, also reveals that one EU citizen in five believes minority groups should abandon their own cultures if they are to live in the bloc. However, support for policies to improve the co-existence of minorities has increased over the past three years.

It also indicates that higher education is associated with more positive attitudes towards minorities while unemployment encourages racism. "Decreasing unemployment rates and information about a decrease in unemployment might reduce concerns about migration," say the report's authors.

Austria's Green party has called for far-right leader Jörg Haider to step down as governor of Carinthia for making "anti-Semitic" remarks about Austrian Jewish leader Ariel Muzican. Haider said he could not understand how someone who shared his name with a soap powder could have "so much dirt sticking to him".

A rising number of EU citizens believe that ethnic minorities threaten social peace and welfare, according to a survey. The European Montoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, which interviewed 16,000 people across the Union, found that 52% believe minority groups have a destabilising effect. The figure is up from 48% in 1997.