No country in Europe has a larger proportion of men and women of immigrant descent, mainly from the African continent and mainly Muslim: an estimated six to seven million of them, or more than 10% of the population.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Europe - with hundreds of millions of people - can accept hundreds of thousands of migrants.
The British, and most European countries, have struggled to accommodate Muslim immigrants, but they have nevertheless welcomed them in large numbers.
Following the Second World War, we are a country of one ethnicity. After the moving of the borders, after the tragedy of the Holocaust and the murder of Polish Jews, we don't have large minority groups.
Movement of people is taking place on an immense scale, and from a European perspective, the number of potential future immigrants seems limitless.
Well-meaning Europeans sometimes argue that unlike the U.S., their countries are traditionally 'homogeneous' and have little experience with immigration.
The recent riots in France demonstrate the problem European countries face where second and third generation immigrants still do not consider themselves French, German, or English.
Coming from the U.S., you tend to look at one homogeneous market with 350 million people. But in Europe, every country has its own customs and laws.
Every country in Europe needs immigrants for its economic survival.
There is no 'European people' united by common mores.
Europe is a community of half a billion people, more than Russia and the United States combined.