More than 75% of Romanians think that, following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Europe should no longer receive refugees or immigrants, according to an INSCOP survey.

A similar percentage (75.8%) believe that Romania should not receive refugees through the mandatory quota distribution system that the EU wants to implement. In September, 56.2% of Romanians believed that their country should not receive refugees, but their number has significantly increased after the terrorist attacks in Paris this November.

The study also shows that only 19.2% of respondents agree with letting in some refugees if it were a question of redistribution, down from 35.5% in September.

Moreover, the number of those who believe that the migrants have left the East because of the war has decreased from 41.7% in September to 35% in November. On the other hand, the number of those who think that this migration includes organized groups that want to destabilize Europe has increased from 23.4% to 33.1%. Some 19.1% say that the refugees are more likely economic migrants (compared to 23.3% in September), and only 5.4% think that they just want to live in Europe (slightly down from 5.9% in September).

The percentage of those who would not accept refugees to settle in Romania has also increased when compared to the survey’s results in September (80.2% in November vs. 65.3% in September), and so did the number of those who wouldn’t want the refugees to settle in their city (81.9% vs. 67.1%).

The survey was conducted by INSCOP at the request of Adevarul newspaper between November 26 and December 2, on a sample of more than 1,000 people.

More than half of Romanians believe that Romania should not receive refugees. 

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com