A report by the European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) based on a survey the agency had commissioned had found that anti-Black racism in 13 of the EU countries was on the rise, and the three countries where it is high are Germany, Austria and Germany, while in Portugal and Sweden, as also Poland, the discrimination figures were lower compared to the others.

The 13 countries included Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. This was the second survey in six years, and the numbers of those who felt discriminated on the basis of colour had nearly doubled in the three countries in the intervening period.

The proportion of people who felt the racist attitudes of the host countries has risen by 10 per cent to 34 per cent in the last 12 months. The proportion of people – those born in sub-Saharan Africa or one of whose parents are living in Europe – was felt to be stubbornly same or on the rise. Said FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty, “It is shocking to see no improvement since our last survey. Instead, people of African descent face ever more discrimination just because of the colour of their skin.”

There was an EU-wide survey conducted between October 2021 and September 2022 across 16 countries, and it was based on interviews with 16,124 immigrants and descendants of immigrants. This report on racism against Blacks called “Being Black in the EU” is the first of a series of reports that FRA will bring out. There will be similar reports on discrimination on Muslims and other ethnic minorities. For the survey on discrimination against Blacks, the survey sample drawn from the larger sample was 6,752 people from sub-Saharan Africa. The survey was carried out by Ipsos, a professional pollster based in Britain, for FRA.

In Germany, the racist attitude towards blacks was 64 per cent in the second survey in Germany and Austria, up from 33 per cent in Germany and up from 42 per cent in Austria six years ago. Finland was at the third position with 54 per cent of the sub-Saharan people feeling discriminated on the basis of their skin colour.

Among the FRA recommendations to counter racism to the EU member countries is to enforce anti-discrimination legislation, and to take racial bias as a motivation as an aggravating circumstance in imposing penalties for crimes. Laws indeed should be made stringent to curb racial crimes, but it may not be sufficient.

What is required is a change of attitude across European societies towards immigrants from other races, faiths and languages, and this would have to begin from the school level onwards. The other way is to include immigrants settled in the EU countries in the government, especially in the police, and in the courts. This would be a more effective way of integrating the immigrants with the host society.

There has to be a recognition on the part of the EU political class that Europe needs the immigrants as much as the immigrants need Europe. Once the mutual interest is accepted, there will be respect, however reluctant, from both sides. And this can serve as a practical base for accepting the presence of the immigrants.

Most European countries are facing the challenge of falling birth rates and dwindling population. The immigrants play an important part in keeping the European economy running. There is no denying the fact that the immigrants for their part are seeking a better life in terms of opportunity and quality of living. The acceptance of immigrants on the part of the people of host countries is not an easy thing because there are psychological and cultural barriers to be overcome.