Politics matters: a conclusion

In 2006 Eurobarometer asked respondents throughout the EU-25 whether they agreed or disagreed that immigrants contributed much to their country. There were big differences according to occupation and education: only around four out of ten people in managerial positions disagreed compared to nearly six out of ten manual workers; the difference between those who left school before 16 and those educated past their 20th birthday was almost exactly the same. There were also, as Table 1 shows, big differences between countries – not only between the EU-15 and new member states, but within the EU-15, some of whose centre-right parties we examine in this volume.