As a result of the Dublin II regulation, the EU member state where a person seeks asylum is responsible. In the case of Italy this led to hot debates between European countries, with Italy demanding a common effort and other countries denying it.
The young people taking the Poll clearly demand a common effort in this issue.
Interestingly, according to 2011 Eurostat data, while the numbers of asylum seekers increased in countries of the southern Mediterranean, taking care of most asylum seekers are still clearly France and Germany.
When a person from outside wants to come to the European Union or stay there, the rules to decide about their status are still mainly national ones and different from country to country. Critics call this a “lottery” , while others maintain the right of each country to decide who can stay or go.
While there are already some common policies, like the “Blue Card” for some highly qualified workers, most young people in our Poll called for even further European efforts on this.
The young people taking the survey have a clear opinion : Three quarters of respondents are more or less in favour of immigration generally, just over one fifth opposes it.
The question on whether EU economic needs should be decisive on this question produces a split down the middle : While a slim majority of 49.5% favours this line, a very substantial minority of just 3 percentage points less opposes it.
Another sign for the trend towards the middle is the very low number of total respondents who strongly agreed or disagreed : Just barely 35% took this option, compared to at least close to 50% on all other questions.
Interestingly, this hardly changes between countries : The young people from non-EU members, old EU-members and new member states are similarly split.
Similar to Question 3, the young people participating are generally in favour of people from different cultures living together in Europe.
Just shortly after the transition period for workers from the new member state has expired in many old member states, young people from these countries are also clearly in favour of free movement. The agreement from young people in the new member states is almost unanimous.
The highest support can be found among young people in Romania and Bulgaria - who currently are denied this exact right.
Just a slim majority of 56.2% favour a Europe without border controls or restrictions on movement, even if the date for that is just “one day” .
In the current 27 EU member states, the majority is even smaller (53%), while 45% oppose the notion of a borderless Europe.
Not very surprisingly, the numbers differ when looking at countries currently not in the EU or the Schengen area : There, 69,8% find a borderless Europe desirable.
When looking only at the current EU member states, the agreement with further enlargement is just barely over 50% while rejection comes up to almost 45%.
Even those who would generally like more European integration (see next question) are not necessarily in favour of more integration : 35,8% of pro-integrationists oppose further enlargement.
We were especially interested in the opinion of young people from the states currently under scrutiny from the European Union for financial troubles : Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Interestingly, young people from those countries favour more integration stronger than the rest : 73.3% of respondents from these states want more integration.
Apparently, times of crisis do not prompt an anti-European atmosphere as often suggested. Young people rather seem to trust common solutions more than their respective governments.