Open Borders and Attitudes Towards Migrants in Intra-EU Border Regions

Wouter Heinen , European Doctoral School of Demography

Migration shapes societal dynamics and perceptions across Europe, with attitudes varying by country and region. Through positive intercultural contact in open-border regions, attitudes towards migrants may be more positive. The popularity of right-wing politics is related to migrant acceptance. This study investigates whether, in intra-EU border regions, where open borders facilitate regular interaction, migrants are perceived differently, using right-wing party support as an indirect indicator. Based on Allport’s Contact Hypothesis and cross-border theory, the study assumes that sustained and cooperative cross-border interaction reduces perceived threat and anti-migrant sentiment, while limited or unequal cooperation may reinforce exclusionary attitudes. Election data from 2010–2019 across 11 EU countries (17,480 regional observations, mainly NUTS 3) were analysed. Border regions were defined using a 25 km buffer around internal EU borders and classified into high, medium, and low cooperation categories based on the Cross-Border Cooperation Survey. Spatial and statistical analyses were conducted using ArcGIS and Stata. Spatial clustering was tested via Global Moran’s I. An OLS regression with country fixed effects was performed to assess differences in right-wing voting across cooperation levels. Robustness checks included exclusion of outliers and unweighted models. Residual hot spot analysis identified remaining spatial patterns. Results show that high levels of cooperation decrease the effect of a border region on voting behaviour. Moderate interaction decreases right-wing popularity, while low levels of interaction increase right-wing popularity. Overall, this research shows that proximity alone does not ensure migrant acceptance. Instead, meaningful interaction and delicate integration are key to mitigating anti-migrant sentiment.

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 Presented in Session 88. Migrant Populations and Ethnoracial Discrimination