Black people in Germany and Austria face the highest level of racism in the European Union, according to a report that warns of rising levels of discrimination across the bloc.

Almost half – 45 per cent – of respondents of African descent to an EU survey said they had experienced racism in the last five years, compared with 39 per cent in 2016.

More than 70 per cent of those surveyed in Austria and Germany said they had suffered racism over the last five years.

Finland was third highest, with 63 per cent of respondents saying they had faced racism, compared with 76 per cent of black people in Germany and 72 per cent in Austria.

The best-performing countries were Poland at 21 per cent and Portugal at 27 per cent.

“It is shocking to see no improvement since our last survey in 2016,” said Michael O’Flaherty, director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). 

“Instead, people of African descent face ever more discrimination.”

Black people ‘continue to face racism’

FRA’s report, Being Black in the EU, surveyed almost 6,800 people of African descent in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden between 2021 and 2022.

Meanwhile the debate over migration, which often depicts it as a threat, impacted how black people are perceived, she added.

The report said black people “continue to face racism, discrimination and hate crime despite the EU having binding anti-discrimination law since 2000”.

Some 4 per cent of respondents said they were victims of a racist attack in the five years before the survey, with a third of victims experiencing racist violence more than once.

The highest five-year rates were in Finland, where 11 per cent of respondents were victims of a racist attack, Germany (9 per cent) and Denmark (8 per cent).

Racist harassment over the last five years was highest in Germany (54 per cent) and Finland (52 per cent). The lowest rate was in Portugal (10 per cent).

Germany appointed its first anti-racism commissioner last year. Reem Alabali-Radovan said the survey proved it was important to empower those affected by racism.

In Austria, the hard-Right Freedom Party is leading the polls and in Finland, the fiercely anti-migrant Finns Party is part of a Right-wing coalition.

The people of African descent said that skin colour, followed by ethnic or immigrant background, are the most common grounds for discrimination.

Police stops

A total of 55 per cent experienced discrimination more than three times in the year before the survey, said FRA.

Young people, people with disabilities, people with university degrees, those who wear traditional or religious clothing or identify as a minority such as gay or lesbian experience more racism in the EU.

The report said 58 per cent of people thought their last police stop in the year before the survey was influenced by the colour of their skin.

Over the five years before the survey, police stopped 26 per cent of people of African descent, with respondents in Austria, Germany and Ireland being stopped most often.

Men are three times more likely to be stopped but more women believe they are stopped because of racial profiling. Most of the respondents (58 per cent) said they were treated respectfully by police.

Those who experienced racial discrimination had less trust in the police, than those who did not, the report found. Reporting levels are low because people think “it will not change anything”.

The UK was part of the last survey in 2016, when it was still a member of the EU and lower levels of racism were reported.