Europeans — especially Germans — are increasingly keen on curbing immigration and are less focused on climate change, according to a study by a Danish-based think tank.

Europe has seen a sharp rise in the share of people who say that reducing immigration should be a top government priority, according to a study published Wednesday. Germany is topping the list.

At the same time, there was less desire to prioritize fighting climate change in the same countries, according to the survey commissioned by the Denmark-based Alliance of Democracies Foundation think tank.

Nearly half of German respondents put focus on migration

Since 2022, an increasing number of Europeans say their government should prioritize “reducing immigration,” rising from just under 20% to a quarter.

Meanwhile, concern about climate change was on the slide across the continent.

“In 2024, for the first time, reducing immigration is a greater priority for most Europeans than fighting climate change,” the report said.

Nowhere is this reversal more striking than in Germany, which now leads the world with the highest share of people who want their government to focus on reducing immigration — topping all other priorities — and now nearly twice as high as fighting climate change,” the report read.

  • ichbinjasokreativ@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I’m in the weird position of wanting both - closed borders and a reversal of climate change, so the next election is going to be interesting for me. They seem to be mutually exclusive in party programs

    • DdCno1@kbin.social
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      7 months ago

      It’s not interesting, it’s simple: Don’t vote for fascists, no matter what. This means AfD and, if by that point, Conservatives are willing to form a coalition with them (I hope not, but Merz scares me), those are impossible to vote for by any decent human being as well.

    • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      The only sustainable solution to migration is reducing the reasons to migrate. Tackling climate change would reduce perhaps the biggest reason for migration we’re ever gonna see. So if you have to choose between curbing climate change without reducing migration, and curbing migration without reducing climate change, you should probably go with the former. The latter is only going to reduce migration temporarily and accelerate it long term. If they can even reduce migration in the near term.

    • demonsword@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I’m in the weird position of wanting both - closed borders and a reversal of climate change

      then I guess the weird epiteth of “enlightened idiot” fully applies to you

      • PlexSheep@infosec.pub
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        7 months ago

        I mean, wanting regulations for immigration is a valid political opinion, no? It’s not something that is inherently extreme right. It’s just hard to find a party catering to both because of the modern Kulturkampf.

        • demonsword@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Most people aren’t migrating of their own volition but fleeing war and famine. People I’ve seen advocating for “regulations for immigration” would rather have those people dying of hunger or exposure at their borders instead of letting them in.

          • PlexSheep@infosec.pub
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            7 months ago

            Yeah, those people exist. I’m not one of them, but I can still see how someone would want their country to be a little less open about immigration. It can be comforting if people are a bit more like you, I guess.

    • Lileath
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      7 months ago

      NPD or “die Heimat” would work for you, right? Since you seem like you would like the slogan “Deutschland den Deutschen”.