Greeks appear favourable to the refugees’ rights to movement and seek a better life, but at the same time believe migration would have a negative impact on the country, according to Ipsos research on behalf of ActionAid.

The findings showed that 64% of Greeks had a negative view on the impact immigration would have in Greece, while the majority of respondents are negative about the work of institutions and NGOs for managing the flow of refugees. However, at the same time, Greeks support the right of refugees to move and largely oppose the practice of sending ships with refugees and migrants back to Libya.

The research was carried out in Greece, Italy, Austria, and Hungary under the CIAK Migration program funded by the European Commission. The aim of the survey, conducted by Ipsos (in Greece in collaboration with ActionAid), was to investigate the perceptions and stereotypes of the citizens of these four countries regarding immigration. In each of the countries, 1,000 people aged 18-70 were interviewed, between June 27 and July 5, 2019.

As the results revealed, Greeks cannot see any positive impact of immigration on their country, with only 6% expressing a positive opinion, while 29% believe it had no effect.

In contrast, 64% said immigration had some or a significantly negative impact on the country. Greeks appear to be the least favourably inclined to the effects of immigration, followed by Italians (57%) and Hungarians (56%). Austrians expressed slightly less negative attitudes, although the population is divided, among those who believe that immigration is negative (49%) and those who view it as having neither a positive nor a negative impact (29%) or favorably (20%).