Public Opinion and Migration Processes in Europe

The latest flow of immigrants and refugees is compared by the scientific community to the Migration Period. But is this really so? These processes have contributed to the uprise of serious social risks next to a humanitarian disaster on near-border and cross-border territories in particular. The ruling elites of some EU member states appeared to be not ready for the ongoing processes. In Europe, founded on the values of global equality and non-discrimination, they began to put up the "Berlin wall" again, thereby introducing on the agenda the issue of the termination or regression of European integration processes. How do public attitudes in Europe change regarding these issues? Is there any elite consensus on the threshold issues of European solidarity? According to Zaller's concept about public attitudes, in case of elite disagreement the society must also divide in the way that the segment supporting one of the parties is the more committed to it as he is more informed about the issue. Since the pivotal question is how European citizens use the information from mass media in the formation of their own social and political preferences on the issue of migration policy in the EU countries. How do these preferences influence their ideas about integration and solidarity within the EU states? How is the European opinion being created? How are the information flows being formed: the ones which create a highly-selective and stereotyped image? Is that way the method of polical populism? Our report is going to give answers to these questions.