80% of Poles Age 18-24 Want Return of EU Internal Border Controls

A new poll conducted by the Polish daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita has found that 80% of Poles aged 18 to 24 want to return inter-EU border controls, with 84% in the same age group opposed to accepting Middle Eastern refugees

The survey, conducted for the newspaper by the IBRiS polling agency, found that on the whole, 50% of Poles support the restoration of border controls inside the EU, with 47% of respondents opposed. The survey found that poles in the 18-24 age group and those aged 25-34 were the most active supporters of border controls.

The polling also found that 84% of respondents aged 18-24 are opposed to Poland accepting Middle Eastern refugees.

The results follow an earlier poll conducted by Onet.pl, Poland's largest web portal, which found that 73% of respondents believe that Poland should not accept any refugees from the Middle East; 78% of those polled in the Onet.pl poll said that their reluctance over refugees stemmed from the fear of terrorism.

The Onet.pl poll, conducted March 19-21, did not account for the impact of the March 22 Brussels bombings. Anti-refugee sentiment grew by 10 percentage points after the November 2015 Paris attacks, and is similarly expected to rise in the wake of Brussels, Onet.pl suggested.