[10] As a consequence, some politicians began to scapegoat migrants and drum up anxiety towards the sudden influx of immigrants, often expressing concerns over a perceived danger to European values.

[11] Paired also with rising cost of living and other complex social problems, political polarization increased,[12] confidence in the European Union fell,[13] and many countries tightened their asylum laws.

[14] Nonetheless, despite the political consequences, a 2023 study leveraging quantified economic metrics (such as chained GDP and the inflation rate) concluded that the events ultimately resulted in a “low but positive impact” to the German economy.

Political scientist Cas Mudde has argued that the term reflects "more a matter of personal judgment than objective condition," writing that "[t]he EU had the financial resources to deal with even these record numbers of asylum seekers, although for years it had neglected to build an infrastructure to properly take care of them.

[52] A number of Greek islands are less than 6 km (4 mi) from the Turkish coast, such as Chios, Kos, Lesbos, Leros, Kastellorizo, Agathonisi, Farmakonisi, Rhodes, Samos and Symi.

[69] Airplane tickets directly from Turkey to Germany or Britain would have been far cheaper and safer, but the EU requires airlines flying into the Schengen Area to check that passengers have a visa or are exempted from carrying one ("carriers' responsibility").

[citation needed] At the same time, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán began using fear of immigration as a domestic political campaign issue[83][84] and stated his opposition to accepting long-term refugees.

[96] Unwilling to resort to violence to keep them out, and faced with a potential humanitarian crisis if the huge numbers languished in Hungary indefinitely,[93][97] Germany and Austria jointly announced on 4 September that they would allow the migrants to cross their borders and apply for asylum.

[118] Several countries, such as Hungary,[119] Slovenia[120] and Austria,[121] authorized their armies to secure their borders or repel migrants; some passed legislation specifically to give armed forces more powers.

In October 2015, the Slovenian government accused Croatian police of helping migrants bypass Slovene border controls and released a night time thermovision video allegedly documenting the event.

[137] In late November, Finnish reception centers were running out of space, which forced authorities to resort to refurbished shipping containers and tents to house new asylum seekers.

In March 2016, after months of tense negotiations[150] during which Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeatedly threatened to open Turkey's borders and "flood" Europe with migrants to extract concessions,[151] a deal was announced.

[161] Erdoğan again threatened to flood Europe with migrants after the European Parliament voted to suspend EU membership talks in November 2016: "if you go any further, these border gates will be opened.

"[162][163] Over the next few years, Turkish officials continued to threaten the EU with reneging on the deal and engineering a repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis in response to criticism of the Erdoğan government.

[172] As a result, NGOs MSF, Save the Children and Sea Eye suspended their operations after clashes with the Libyan Coast Guard after the latter asserted its sovereignty of its waters by firing warning shots.

[184] A 2016 study by Pew Research Center suggested widespread anxiety over the refugee crisis and immigration in general, particularly about effects on the labour market, crime, and difficulty integrating the newcomers.

Pegida, a pan-European far-right political movement founded in 2014 on opposition to immigration from Muslim countries, experienced a resurgence during the refugee crisis, especially in eastern Germany.

[199] A theory known as Eurabia, which claims that globalist entities led by French and Arab powers are plotting to "islamise" and "arabise" Europe, was propagated widely in far-right circles.

Some argue that migrants have been seeking to settle preferentially in national destinations that offer more generous social welfare benefits and host more established Middle Eastern and African immigrant communities.

[242] On 18 June 2016, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon also called for international support and praised Greece for showing "remarkable solidarity and compassion" towards refugees.

Some scholars, like António Silva,[245] blamed UNESCO for not denouncing racism against war refugees in Europe with the same vigor as the vandalism against ancient monuments perpetrated by fundamentalists in the Middle East.

The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, in particular began to campaign on fear of immigration, calling refugees "Muslim invaders",[249] conflating migrants with terrorism,[250] and stating that they were part of a "left-wing conspiracy" to gain new voters.

Under incumbent prime minister Ewa Kopacz, Poland had agreed to accept 2,000 refugees as part of the European Union's plan to distribute a fraction of that year's arrivals, while at the same time opposing the settlement of "economic migrants".

[257] Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, called the influx of people an "Islamic invasion" and spoke of "masses of young men in their twenties with beards singing Allahu Akbar across Europe".

[258] Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right National Front, was criticized by German media[259][260] for implying that Germany was looking to undercut minimum wage laws and hire "slaves".

Horst Seehofer, then premier of Bavaria, became a prominent critic within the CDU of Merkel's refugee policy[263] and alleged that as many as 30 per cent of Germany's asylum seekers claiming to be from Syria were in fact from other countries.

[264] Yasmin Fahimi, secretary-general of the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partner of the ruling coalition, praised Merkel's policy allowing migrants in Hungary to enter Germany as "a strong signal of humanity to show that Europe's values are valid also in difficult times".

[274] In some countries that took in large numbers of asylum seekers, this has resulted in tens of thousands of people not having legal residency rights, raising worries of institutionalised poverty and the creation of parallel societies.

In all countries, conservative tabloids and newspapers, such as the British Daily Mail, the Spanish ABC and the German Welt, were found to be more likely to emphasize perceived risks of extremists among arriving refugees, while centre-left publications were more likely to mention humanitarian aspects.

[287] The study also found significant differences between countries, noting that right-wing media in the United Kingdom had conducted a "uniquely aggressive campaign" against refugees and migrants in 2015.