EU Report: Muslim Migrants Believe in Europe and Consider it their Home

Most Muslim migrants within the European Union have a strong connection with the European community, believe in democratic institutions, and embrace Europe as their new home, despite the existence of discrimination on racial grounds. This is stated in the report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, quoted by BGNES.

The survey was conducted in 2016 and covers the opinion of more than 10,000 Muslim migrants and their children who have been permanent and working EU citizens for more than a year and are not part of the refugee crisis on the Old Continent.

The Agency examines in detail the sense of belonging of foreigners to the EU, the problem of discrimination and the knowledge of fundamental rights. Experts asked respondents to assess their living and affiliation status in Europe from 1 to 5 points. Thus, the majority scored between 4 and 5 points at an average of 4.1 for the EU citizens. According to the data, 76% of Muslims believe they are closely related to their country of residence. The lowest scores were reported in Austria, the Netherlands and Italy - in these countries the average score was 3.5. "The data from our study shows that all claims that Muslims are not included in our society are absurd," said agency director Michael O'Flaery.

The report also summarizes the positive results of the integration of Muslim migrants into European society. First of all, they believe in law enforcement and justice. Still, 42% of respondents note that they have to deal with police checks. "We have found that their trust in democratic institutions is much higher than that of most other members of our society," O'Flaery added.