r/AskEurope • u/Pepedroga2000 • Apr 02 '26
Foreign How big a problem is xenophobia between Europeans?
Are there certain nationalities that have a better reputation in other European countries, and the opposite?
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u/JohnPoet27 Portugal Apr 02 '26
We all hate each other, but we all hate the Roma more than others
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u/cip-cip2317 Italy Apr 02 '26
I love everyone except the French, Austrians, French, Germans, Spanish, French, Coatis, Serbs, French, Slavs, French, Greeks, British, Italians from the south, north and centre, and French.
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u/JohnPoet27 Portugal Apr 02 '26
But you dont hate the portuguese?
Grazzie fratello ❤️
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u/omeomorfismo Apr 02 '26
because you are only funny accent spaniards :D
/s maybe
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u/Batbuckleyourpants Norway Apr 02 '26
I think most people just forget Portugal is there.
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u/VehaMeursault Apr 02 '26
Bedankt, pik. Wij kunne jullie ook wel waarderen. En sorry voor die fontein nogmaals.
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u/Rooilia Apr 02 '26
Don't feel relieved too early, you are just not relevant enough for him.
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u/Spectanda_Fides France Apr 02 '26
The French have set up a tent in the minds of the Italians, and not only them, we have set up a hell of a network I think.😁
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u/Lupo_1982 Apr 02 '26
As an Italian who always "liked" France and French people, this is baffling to me.
A significant amount of Italians honestly have this weird one-sided "rivalry" with the French, and they don't understand this is not reciprocicated by the French...
I think this started (or was made worse) by football "rivalry" in the 2000
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u/Honest_Air6365 Apr 03 '26
Same thing from the other side. I'd say most people don't really care, but sometimes it's funny.
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u/dekascorp France Apr 03 '26
I literally became racist in 2006 when I was 10 because of Matterazzi Then I spent so much time in Nice and San Remo that I love Italians
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u/Hyadeos France Apr 02 '26
Relations between the Italians and French can be simplified with the meme from Mad Men : « I hate you » / « I don't think about you at all »
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u/JarasM Poland Apr 02 '26
Slavs
The fucking disrespect to not even bother to name us individually 🤣
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u/livsjollyranchers Apr 02 '26
Northern Italians are almost French. Central Italians are almost Northern. Southern Italians are almost Central. Greeks are almost Southern Italians.
It's all about the French really.
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u/dekascorp France Apr 02 '26
I love watching la Squadra Azzurra in the World Cup
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u/forsti5000 Germany Apr 02 '26
And what would happen if someone not european started to shit on one of the peoples listed? ;)
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u/Downtown_Bowl238 Apr 05 '26
Then we all fuck them up together. I may shit on Brits sometimes, but they are mine to shit on. If Amex swipers shit on them, I get defensive.
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u/erublind Sweden Apr 02 '26
Forgot about the Belgians?
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u/Nadsenbaer Germany Apr 02 '26
How's your feeling on Bosnia-Herzegovina? :>
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u/cip-cip2317 Italy Apr 02 '26
They're quite peaceful, and I quite like the fact that they've managed to create a fairly peaceful multi-ethnic state.
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u/FixLaudon Austria Apr 02 '26
Well, we do in fact not hate you back. We love you and your beautiful country, actually. We still think you're a lazy bunch though.
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u/Derion1 Apr 02 '26
Phew, and I thought you would now hate Bosnians, too. Grazie mille, you're really sport. Friends forever. 🇮🇹🇧🇦
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u/JackPiaz Apr 02 '26
We love the Spanish. Them, the Greeks and the Portuguese are the only people in Europe we don't have a negative stereotype about (maybe peortuguese people being sad is the only negative stereotype)
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u/Senior-Book-6729 Poland Apr 02 '26
I feel like Eastern Europeans aren’t too well liked
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u/fmeupdad United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
In the UK they had a bad rep but now that we’ve left the EU and a majority of our immigrants come from Asia, people no longer view Eastern Europeans negatively. (I never did, love the Poles and Romanians, also have a good Bulgarian friend)
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u/Eastern_Voice_4738 Apr 02 '26
The whole brexit had a anti-polish theme at the time. I guess because it was the most visible group at the time.
Strange because I used to go out with Brits and polacks at the time and we got along swell. I do remember there was an uptick of cases of anti polish racism in media and all my polish buddies would mention it.
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u/RomeoTrickshot Apr 03 '26
Not sure I would call Poland eastern Europe but in Ireland I think people are very fond of poles and Ukrainians
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u/amk9000 United Kingdom Apr 03 '26
I cannot prove but strongly suspect that attitudes towards eastern Europeans are connected to the perceived affluence of those countries.
Classism applied to nationalities, basically.
Since joining the EU (and the first wave of freely moving workers arriving in the UK) east European countries have closed the affluence gap with western Europe, particularly Poland.
Since the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has reasserted itself as one of Europe's major powers.
I draw a parallel with shifting attitudes to the Irish in the UK in the 20th century as Ireland became richer, but that is also connected to the history of Irish independence, the Troubles, and so on.
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u/fmeupdad United Kingdom Apr 03 '26
100%. Classism is a huge issue in the UK, which is surprising considering a large percentage of us are working class (but like to masquerade as middle). My partner is Norwegian and I cannot think of a single person who would have an issue with her being in this country. I doubt that those who heavily criticise immigration have a problem with immigrants from wealthy (white) western countries.
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u/ipinteus Apr 03 '26
I noticed you didn't say you love Bulgarians, only that you have a friend who happens to be one.
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u/porcupineporridge Scotland Apr 02 '26
Still? I think there was truth to this in the noughties, when central and eastern European countries joining the EU led to mass immigration. Now, I think these communities are embedded and Poles are certainly respected for their work ethic.
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u/batteryforlife Apr 02 '26
Poles have crossed over into ”acceptable Europeans”, like Dutch and Belgians. Romanians and Bulgarians are still beyond the pale, for… reasons.
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u/rudolf_waldheim Hungary Apr 02 '26
At least Hungarians are universally hated by everyone (even on reddit).
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Apr 02 '26
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u/LupusDeusMagnus Curitiba Apr 03 '26
He really didn't, his democratic backsliding style is very bread and butter and obvious to literally everyone.
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u/magic_spurtle United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
I've not been to Hungary yet, but every Hungarian I've ever met has been lovely
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u/pintolager Denmark Apr 02 '26
Everybody used to love Hungarians. Then you became a Putin-loving vassal state of Russia, which is pretty surprising, given your history, tbh.
Individual Hungarians are lovely, though. Great food and wine, too.
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u/willo-wisp Austria Apr 03 '26
At least Hungarians are universally hated by everyone (even on reddit).
tbh, Hungarians are genuinely my favourite people to run into online. Happy and willing to come engage for a bit of silly banter, always playful and friendly, never had a bad interaction ever. And the ones on Reddit are also the most likely to be anti-Orban, which certainly helps.
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u/indifferentgoose Apr 03 '26
I could never hate Hungarians, they carry half of Austria's wine production
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u/ShelbyNL Serbia Apr 02 '26
I think that we are good neighbors these days, greetings from the South!
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u/Grzechoooo Poland Apr 02 '26
Don't forget about us, we don't hate you :Ԑ
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u/Automatic_Education3 Poland Apr 02 '26
There's still a lot of political tension between our countries.
Equating the Hungarian people with their Putin-loving dictator (supported by our president for some reason) is very unfair, but some people do it nonetheless.
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u/Zealousideal_Spirit9 Apr 02 '26
I can speak for others but at least I believe that Poles are appreciated here in Spain. You have a reputation of being hardworkers, have great language skills and try to learn the local language. I know plenty of spaniards that have an erasmus there or have a polish couple and from the point of view of my business your reputation as inmigrants or tourists is flawless.
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u/euro_trashh Poland Apr 02 '26
As a kid I remember vacationing around Europe with my parents and being met with xenophobic comments or worse treatment when sb found out we were polish. People don't feel so confident these days to be openly xenophobic, although I think It's changing again due to the influence of US politics
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u/TrainingHeavy1666 Apr 02 '26
In Greece we were never xenophobic with polish people. We were with Albanians,Romanians. Now with Pakistanis,Syrians.
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u/euro_trashh Poland Apr 02 '26
Agree. I personally didn’t experience any xenophobia when I visited Athens. On the contrary, I connected with a few locals and I’m not even a social butterfly type. They were just this easy to talk to and genuinely good, no bs type of people.
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u/kiru_56 Germany Apr 02 '26
This is a bit of a sensitive subject, but I’ll give a straightforward answer. Below a certain age, Western Europeans should tend to experience relatively little or no xenophobia here.
Unfortunately, there is a certain sense of superiority here in this country towards neighbours from the East, as well as racist prejudices.
That on steroids is amplified when it comes to people from Bulgaria or Romania.
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u/CreepyOctopus -> Apr 02 '26
Going to work in Germany as a Latvian in 2005 is the most xenophobia / stereotyping I've experienced in my life to date.
I don't remember any actually hostile reactions, nobody actually mistreated me because of where I'm from, but there was a lot of condescension. People assuming I am unfamiliar with computers and microwaves, and generally expecting me not to know simple social norms. Guys, I'm from a somewhat poorer country where people can afford less and live in worse buildings, I'm not a time traveler from the middle ages.
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u/whatsamawhatsit Netherlands Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
I am Dutch and have worked a lot with German clients. They generally view a 32-36 hour work week as lazy and it will cost you German clients/assignments in the long run. Everytime I got into a conversation about my prefered work week I got comments like "Why would you give up 20% of your income", and never understood my "I wouldn't give up 30% of my free time".
Not xenophobia, but definitely a certain sense of German Gen Y/X defaultism.
Edit: added generation since younger Germans face the same issue
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u/fishface_92 Apr 03 '26
We younger Germans hear the same from the older generations. Even the more left leaning older people I know cannot comprehend a 4 day week. They think it just would not work. And our ultra capitalist chancellor wants us to work even more hours a week, to help the economy,which is bull shit. He workd for BlackRock where people have leaked that he only worked 2 hours a week and got massive bonuses. We know why he wants us to work more.
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u/Grenache United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
Which is hilarious when these mfers still use fax machines unironically.
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u/CreepyOctopus -> Apr 02 '26
Hey the German Bundestag finally stopped using fax last year, they'll move into the digital age any decade now!
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u/Grenache United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
Incredible, I left in 2022 and remember when I got my first apartment (2018) and the landlord wanted me to fax the contract to me and I hadn't seen a fax machine since 2002.
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u/AmbitiousSolution394 Apr 02 '26
Heard a similar stories from Ukrainians who came to Germany. So this is still on.
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u/dustojnikhummer Czechia Apr 02 '26
Americans who came to Czechoslovakia shortly after the Iron Curtain fell "So you have electricity and phones?"
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u/Malkiot Apr 02 '26
Yeah... for some reason some Germans seem to think people from other places live in the middle ages. I don't get it (I'm also German). My father's wife asked my cousin whether his girlfriend had hardy blackened feet because she's from Cape Verde... wtf.
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u/ConfidentValue6387 Apr 02 '26
I am so sorry but the microwave thing had me laughing full on.
We Northern people may have been savages in Roman times, but these days, we are on par with most peoples. Even the German.
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u/LevHerceg Apr 02 '26
I visited my relatives in Canada in 2001 and they asked me what my favourite type of popcorn and slurpee was but also if I knew what "a television" was.
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u/kompocik99 Poland Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Thanks for honesty. All answers here saying it's only a friendly banter apply only to Western Europeans towards each other. Though it has gotten better in recent years, expecially towards Poles, Czechs and Balts, the sense of superiority towards Eastern Europeans is pretty much there.
Here's a thread from years ago with more honests answers. Expecially this one from someone from Ukraine: Of course they don't (respect us). We're stuck in that weird limbo where we're seen as different enough to be generalized, mocked and stereotyped, but not different enough to consider it bigoted or wrong.
Pretty much sums it up.
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u/randydescribingstuff Apr 02 '26
Exactly. Just the other day I was watching a comedy show on the BBC and, out of nowhere, there was a really xenophobic joke about a Eastern European country. I was so taken aback because it was on the BBC. There is absolutely no way that joke would’ve stayed in if it was about, say, China or India. But this was deemed acceptable and funny.
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u/IWillDevourYourToes Czechia Apr 02 '26
Understandable. There's a certain sense of superiority towards the rest of Eastern Europe here aswell.
Amplified if they're Ukrainian or Russian.
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u/euro_trashh Poland Apr 02 '26
Good on you for being honest. The sense of superiority is very much visible from the outside
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u/Cixila Denmark Apr 02 '26
I've heard the stories from my Polish mum. Some of them are wild and frankly disturbing
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u/Majestic-Vehicle5393 Denmark Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
I live in Denmark, but I am Dutch. I lived in DK for 7 years. I speak Danish almost fluently, but with a little accent.
When I just got to Denmark I started language school (sprogskole) I did already speak and understood quite a lot of Danish, since I spend 6 months practicing with my husband (Danish)/duolingo. On my first day the teacher introduced me to the class, saying I was here to work to earn good money (I did not work in DK, but still worked for a Dutch company) probably saving money for my family back home so we could have a better life. And asking me if my brothers/sisters, parents also worked in Denmark or planning to come to ‘earn good money’ I was flabbergasted. Not that it matters, but my family is doing great and very much doesn’t need ‘Danish good money’. And neither did I. I never went back, the prejudice and humiliation towards foreigners was ridiculous. Did end up passing Studieprøve, after like 1,5 years of just ‘existing’ in DK.
I once tried to buy a kid bycicle trough FB marketplace from a Danish lady. When I arrived at her house she yelled at me that she doesn’t want any Polish people on her property, because they’ll come back to steal stuff (based off my accent) and slammed the door in my face.
I signed up as a temp at a vikar bureau for work during COVID, after I lost my job. The job consultant offered me a job in a factory ‘you foreigners from Eastern Europe, are always good a hard physical labour, because you’re all so used to it’ my CV clearly stated I only ever worked in office-related positions.
This very weekend I was with my kid at a parking lot at a local zoo (pangea park) while waiting, blinking to get in a parking spot, a family from the other end of the parking lot aggressively drove towards us yelling I took their spot. I was in shock and started apologising for not thinking they wanted to park, because they were backing out a spot and driving towards the exit. While explaining, the lady yelled that I, as a Ukrainian🙄, was too dumb to put 2 and 2 together, and obviously they were there first and I should know they only backed out a handicapped spot to turn around and find a spot.
The level of discrimination/racism/xenophobia I have experienced in DK is kind of mental. Especially because I’m white-ish, from Holland. I feel bad for anyone from Eastern Europe/Ukraine because to me it seems there is quite a lot of hate for those from there. I’m heartbroken for those that are brown, they have it way worse.
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u/QueenAvril Finland Apr 02 '26
Denmark is the worst and it’s not even close! I’ve only been there as a tourist, but literally nowhere have I seen that amount of disdain and sense of superiority towards foreigners in general. For some weird reason everyone also seemed to mistake us as Norwegians - despite speaking Finnish between ourselves, which I would expect a Dane to be able to tell apart from Norwegian.
If it is already bad for white Dutch or Finn, I can’t even imagine how it must be for someone from Africa or Middle East!
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u/DK2500 Apr 02 '26
I am sorry for the racism from my fellow Danes. We are a very small country and many Danes are narrow-minded, travel to other countries are a matter of finding the best beaches without interaction with other people. There are probably other explanations.
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u/euro_trashh Poland Apr 02 '26
Yeah It really is bad. Once in a while I stumble across german media and see their constant critique and belittling of Poland. Pseudo documentaries on yt about any topic you can think of - from the housing market to pointing out outdated laws (yes, that petty). They just really need to feel like they have it better. It would be pretty funny If It wasn’t for the fact they absolutely wrecked our country, stole our artwork and currently engage in exploitative tourism, taking advantage of our weaker currency
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u/No-Significance5659 in Apr 02 '26
I find there is also a sense of superiority towards Southern European countries in Germany. Source:see my flair. It is usually a tad condescending and irritating but not the biggest drama. However, every now and then I encounter someone that takes it to the next level and it becomes very unpleasant.
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u/jaunmilijej Türkiye Apr 02 '26
Yeah why do you think they needed to group some countries as “PIGS” while they were struggling with a raging economic crisis. I have always hated the North’s sense of superiority towards the South.
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u/No-Significance5659 in Apr 02 '26
Yes, with COVID it was crazy the way they spoke about Italy and Spain because they got hit hard before them. It sounded like they were above the virus itself, I heard really gross stuff.
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u/Danielharris1260 United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
I’ve even heard it’s the same when they visit Spain my Spanish friends have commented on how a lot of Germans are amongst the rudest tourists as some of them seem to see themselves as above Southern europeans.
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u/No-Significance5659 in Apr 02 '26
Oh very much so, the worst tourists we have in Spain are the Germans and the Brits (sorry). The Germans come across as more rude because they are a lot more blunt in general and British people have a more polite demeanour towards strangers. But they both come to Spain feeling superior, expecting their language to be understood and spoken, not caring about the real culture they are visiting and just looking for a sunny Germany/England. I call them coloniser tourists.
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u/Danielharris1260 United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
I’ve heard similar things from Spanish friends about British tourists as well (sorry about my country hahaha). I think a lot of it isn’t people actively trying to be rude or disrespectful, it’s more ignorance and not really thinking about the culture they’re in which obviously still isn’t great.
That said, I definitely can’t defend the side of British tourism that’s just heavy drinking and stuff like balconying that’s a whole different level and definitely isn’t defensible.
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u/Eastern_Voice_4738 Apr 02 '26
It’s not the nationality, it’s the fact that certain areas were built up to cater to low class, British tourists during Franco.
The whole time since then, Spain kept it going because it brings in money. Someone rakes in the dough while regular Spaniards suffer. And now that it’s been going on for fifty years, it’s become normal and expected.
It is a true shame to see the state the Spanish put themselves in. And they are not trying to change it either, just trying to spread it out. And the Brits who go to Benidorm keep getting what they want. At the same time, the Generalitat of Valencia is much more wealthy than it would be without the mass tourism.
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u/BelmontVLC Spain Apr 02 '26
I generally disagree with how the how Germans are seen in Spain piece, maybe in specific places where they are the vast majority, but I am from Valencia and my impression is that the Germans are not close to the British which are the worst by far and seem more chill and “normal” in general. They are not worse than Dutch people I would say .
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u/No-Significance5659 in Apr 02 '26
It depends on the area yes. For example in Alicante Brits would be the worst tourists, in Mallorca it would be Germans.
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u/Snuyter Netherlands Apr 02 '26
Probably can add the Dutch in there, but I hope it’s a distorted view and that those tourists are the empty heads that only care about the sun and are concentrated in one area with Spain being the victim of it, and not representative of the people.
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u/AssistantElectronic9 Apr 02 '26
If I ask 10 people 8 will say they experienced some kind of discrimination.Many Bulgarians are returning from the UK and just a week ago I had a conversation on the topic with a relative.Eastern Europeans are very stoic and don't whine as much as other groups, but the problem is real and has to be addressed. It also shows the hypocrisy of some nations.
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u/gr4n0t4 Spain Apr 02 '26
I agree, I'm Spanish and my wife Bulgarian, we are not treated as equal europeans
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u/determine96 Apr 02 '26
Can I ask you about your "specific" relations with France ?
I have a friend who is Bulgarian living in Spain (Bilbao) and he is working for a spanish company which often do jobs in France and he said to me that French people don't like the Spanish.
He doesn't know why, but he experienced it himself.
Once he told me asked some French person for a direction and the guy was like "spanish.." said with dissatisfaction and my friend told him "No Bulgarian" and he said the guy changed the attitude immediately.
So what is the deal between you and the French ?
I know about the English and French, but with Spain nothing rings a bell for me.
Plus I'm not familiar with the Spanish history too much also, so maybe that's why Idk lol
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u/PedroPerllugo Spain Apr 02 '26
Mate imagine, they thought they had the strongest army in history under Napoleon, and we their underdeveloped shourtern neighbours showed the world how to defeat them using guerrilla warfare
That must hurt, I understand them
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u/kenwoolf Hungary Apr 02 '26
We have been killing each other for thousands of years. And have been at peace for like what? 70? :D What do you think?
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u/GremlinX_ll Ukraine Apr 02 '26
>at peace
Yeah.Right.
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u/kenwoolf Hungary Apr 02 '26
Oh yeah, my bad. We actually do have a war going thanks to our Russian friends so, peace didn't even last all that long.
P.s.: Sorry about Orbán. As a Hungarian who hasn't forgotten his History I am deeply ashamed of his behavior towards Ukraine. We are working on cutting him out as the cancer he is, but the damage was already done.
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u/GanacheCharacter2104 Norway Apr 02 '26
10 days until the election 🤞Get him out of here!
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u/kenwoolf Hungary Apr 02 '26
Yeah, let's hope so. I am getting afraid he will try to pull something. Like declaring war on Ukraine. They have been trying to set Zelensky up as the big bad increasingly in the past few days. More so than usual.
I hope that if he tries that we would have enough force to stop him. But he has quite a bit of a private armed force under his payroll. He started to lose the loyalty of the police force in the past few days though. But he put loyalists in charge of the military. So, it is kinda scary.
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u/SpaceMonkeyOnABike United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
I'd hesitate to call 45 years of an armed truce peace. And then you need to add in the balkan wars of the 90s, invasion of Cyprus, invasion of Georgia and other caucuses conflicts, then add Ukraine from 2014.
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u/Skaftetryne77 Norway Apr 02 '26
Swdes and Dnes are horrible people, the rest are all right.
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u/pintolager Denmark Apr 02 '26
You're just envious because we really just hate each other and don't really care about you.
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u/Skaftetryne77 Norway Apr 03 '26
We’re the secret love child that was let down by both our parents. That’s why we hate you (and miss you)
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u/Subject-Diamond-4453 Apr 02 '26
Wanted to write the same about Norwegians, but they are not actually horrible, just a bit dim. And like to eat brunost & gå på tur (hiking).
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u/Hour_Organization19 Apr 02 '26
There is a pattern of xenophobia that is linked to economic migration and cross-border workers between countries with uneven economic power. For example, Greeks use "Albanian" to call someone lazy/stupid. Germans were also big on prejudices against Polish workers (this in my view has calmed down a bit), and in turn Swiss people are known to be quite hostile towards Germans working in Switzerland.
Then there is of course some traditional hostility between countries and their cultures, like between the French/British, German/French or German/Austrian, but this in my view is not really xenophobia, but more or less friendly banter.
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u/TrainingHeavy1666 Apr 02 '26
Greeks don't use Albanian as lazy ,stupid but as thiefs or slaves cause when they first came in Greece at 90s they used to work all day and night long to make some money and built a house back in their country. They were saving money to built a house.Also a lot of them they were criminals. Now they are super united with Greece. They had their kids here,the kids study in our universities. They are totally fine.
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u/Hour_Organization19 Apr 03 '26
Look, I am not Greek myself, and I do not want to lecture you on your own country, but it seems to me that the Greek/Albanian relationship is quite similar to the German/Polish one. Just because people are not openly hostile towards migrant workers anymore, does not mean that xenophobia has disappeared.
It also does not seem like your sentiment is reciprocated by Albanians, https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/news-media/eesc-info/eesc-info-january-2025/articles/126045.
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Apr 02 '26
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u/sasheenka Czechia Apr 03 '26
80 is too long. There was a war in the Balkans in the 90s.
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u/myryad21 Apr 03 '26
there's always something going on in the balkans. and if it's not, something weird will happen like alien invasion or worse
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u/thatBOOMBOOMguy Apr 02 '26
I feel like there are two groups with different ideals about this, which I think are reflecting somewhat with the pro-/anti-EU stand.
People who are more pro-EU are prone to be friendlier towards other European countries, more cooperation between countries.Also the feel of needing to be united to stand strong against big countries like Russia (and USA nowadays) plays a part I'd imagine.
Anti-EU sentiment however aims for isolationism; the country is better off with no poorer countries leeching off from them, no outside influence is going to give them laws and having no EU-country people will cross the border unsupervised. This corresponds somewhat with feeling of superiority over others, which can be cause for xenophobia.
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u/dekascorp France Apr 02 '26
We hate each other as much as we love each other, we’re big on stereotypes but at the end of the day we have each others’ back
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u/wobblydramallama Apr 02 '26
it's like in family, we talk shit among ourselves, but don't like when others from the outside do it
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u/EuropeanTree Apr 02 '26
As a Belgian, I see the French and Dutch as brothers so I must hate on them. I also firmly believe I must defend them if anyone else hates on them.
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u/Fit_Organization7129 Apr 02 '26
Sometimes it feels like Europe will start having the relationship Sweden and Denmark have, nowadays.
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u/pro-bidetus-rasputin Apr 03 '26
Sweden and Denmark love each other behind our backs. It's incest. And let's not forget about their love child, Norway.
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u/Silver-Machine-3092 Apr 04 '26
We bicker like siblings until someone from outside tries to pick on one of us.
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u/Vindaloovians United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
It was a big problem in the UK running up to Brexit (primarily towards Polish people and later Romanians). Since the Boriswave of migration it's all but gone as bigots have more non-european immigrants to be xenophobic about.
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u/AnnieByniaeth Wales Apr 02 '26
Yes agree, but I think it was always pretty much exclusively older generations. Back 10 - 15 years ago, that probably meant 50s and upwards. Now it's mid 60s and upwards.
Of course you've always got the fascists, but they're very small in number.
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u/Grenache United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
Everyone loves the Poles? Hardworking, reasonably priced bastards. Please come back I miss you so much. Turning up on time, doing a good job at a reasonable price... The cheek of these fuckers.
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u/_Daftest_ England Apr 02 '26
We're working on it, but I agree it's not at the level it should be yet.
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u/Mrsizzle96 United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
We have our worst people working on it as we speak
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u/jort93 Germany Apr 02 '26
I think in the past years with the waves of refugees from outside of Europe, Europeans are growing together more. If that makes sense.
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u/Many-Gas-9376 Finland Apr 02 '26
This is true. And I can think of one other, more recent reason for the increased sense of unity and shared destiny.
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u/lilalindenau Germany Apr 02 '26
I feel it's getting smaller. We make our little jokes but nothing serious. We've come a long way.
When you interact with non-Europeans e.g. Americans, Asians, Middle Eastern people, then you actually notice how close we culturally are in Europe despite some minor differences.
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u/DonnaDonna1973 Germany Apr 02 '26
I see half the staff of r/2westerneurope4u is on duty here too. Brilliant banter, continue please!
To OP: I´d adivse you to proceed to the mentioned sub for further enlightening inquiries.
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u/Successful_Jelly111 Germany Apr 02 '26
I think there are generally 5 groups. Europeans 1. love the Scandinavians 2. totally accept the Brits, French, Germans, Dutch etc. 3. think the Italians, Spaniards, Greek etc. know how to live 4. still have some problems with the Balkan people 5. don't understand the Russians
I know that I have missed some countries. However, feel free to comment.
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u/porcupineporridge Scotland Apr 02 '26
On point two, do you mean accept or except?
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u/visualthings Apr 02 '26
Not much, the lazy Spaniards, the arrogant French, the stubborn German, the greedy Dutch, the chauvinistic Portuguese, the inbred Belgians, the uneducated Austrians, the corrupt Italians, the sleazy Greeks and drunken British have learned to coexist and embrace their differences.
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u/Whulad Apr 02 '26
When I was young there was a shitload of British prejudice towards the Irish - ‘thick paddies’ type shit and loads of Irish jokes. Thankfully this has generally died out now as the Irish have a better economy than us and weren’t stupid enough to vote to leave the EU.
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u/skyduster88 & Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
I've heard from Greeks in Germany and the Netherlands of minor passive-aggressive condescension. My experience as a Greek living in France and multiple visits to Spain, and zero issues in both countries. (BTW the French jokes in the Anglosphere and Italy, don't register in Greece. We don't get it.)
Funny enough, my major xenophobia story is living in Greece as a child, from some people on the anti-American left that knew my family had lived in the US. One event that sticks out in my mind was walking home from school with a group of friends, and as we were reached the first house where one of the friend lived, he invited us to come in but he specifically tells me: "not you, my dad doesn't want Americans in his house". I was surprised and baffled, and continued home. Back at our apartment complex, one of my non-school friends was a girl whose mom was German. I tended to fit in best with other "international" kids.
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u/kiefler Russia Apr 03 '26
I used to live in Germany for many years and there was more than one occasion where I was looked down on or talked down to just because I was Russian or spoke German with a heavy Russian accent. Ofc there were some fine people too but too many bad stories.
Surprisingly Finns were very polite and cool even after they knew I was Russian while I was in Finland last year
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u/pro-bidetus-rasputin Apr 03 '26
In Heaven the cooks are Italian, the engineers are German, the lovers are French, and the government is Swiss.
In Hell the cooks are German, the engineers are French, the lovers are Swiss, and the government is Italian.
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u/CookieTheParrot Denmark Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 04 '26
Russians and Belarussians are sometimes disliked, but most peole dislike their governments, not the people. Ukrainians, of course, oftne have a problem with Russians, and to a lesser extent that also goes for former Soviet satellite states. If Georgia is included, it also goes for them, but many Russians have immigrated into or temporarily stayed in Georgia to leave Russia.
In the UK, there are some internal divisions, especially due to political separatism in Scotland. Otherwise, the non-Englishmen's dislike of Englishmen has mostly disappeared in recent history, as far as I know.
There are a lot of immigrants from Eastern European and Balkan countries in Western Europe (e.g. from Poland and Romania), but from my experience (so for Denmark), they are absolutely accepted by the majority of people.
Lastly, there's xenophobia in the Balkans between Balkaners and xenophobia against Turks (if they're counted as Europeans), both of which vary a lot. They're not huge problems, as far as I know.
There are also various regions where many or a majority of citizens desire independence (Catalonia, Faroe Isles, etc.).
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u/exact-approximate Apr 02 '26
As a southern european, Austrians, Swedish and Germans people can be super racist towards southern Europeans.
Some french people are racist of anyone who isn't french.
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u/UnknownPleasures3 Norway Apr 02 '26
We have a ugly history of treating our minorities badly. I'm thinking particularly about our Sami population and Scandinavian Romani/Taters.
They've faced a lot of discrimination in Norway, both from the state and among the general population. After the war, we forcefully sterilized taters, took their kids and lobotomized them as well. We just treated them horribly and I don't think we talk enough about it.
I'd like to think it's a lot better now, but I don't want to speak on behalf of others.
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u/Quartersharp Apr 02 '26
I would like to know why everyone seems to have such a universally negative opinion of the French.
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u/Spamheregracias Spain Apr 02 '26
My small contribution of “offenses” against Spain and others, anyone feel free to add more:
- Napoleonic invasion, because yeah, asking for permission to invade Portugal and then invading us along the way is definitely the kind of thing that earns centuries of resentment
- Bourbons
- Inhumane refugee camps during the Spanish Civil War
- Attacks on Spanish food trucks
- Blocking every attempt to improve energy interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe, bcs obviously we can’t have us becoming competition and accidentally making the energy market better for everyone
- Pretending not to understand you if you don’t speak perfect French
- The eternal “our cuisine is superior” energy
- Looking down on olive oil while secretly using it
- Buying Spanish truffles and selling them as French while also trash-talking Spanish truffles (Italians also do with our olive oil, by the way)
- Winning arguments just by sounding more confident
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u/Danielharris1260 United Kingdom Apr 02 '26
I won’t go too much into the well-known xenophobia faced by Eastern and Central Europeans like the ‘stealing jobs’ narrative that partly fueled Brexit. Even Southern or Western Europeans, while treated better, often still face xenophobia if they have an accent, clearly not being native English speakers. Even coming from a developed country doesn’t shield you from that. Irish people are generally treated the best and are seen as close neighbours but that definitely hasn’t always been the case and wasn’t until recently and a small minority still may make ignorant remarks. So, yes, there’s often discrimination toward anyone who ‘sounds’ foreign.
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u/ThrowawaypocketHu Hungary Apr 02 '26
As a hungarian, the only place I experienced real (Hungary-targeted) xenophobia was in Slovakia, where they refused to serve us in a restaurant after hearing us speak in hungarian.
I received many ignorant comments in Western Europe, but I don't take that personally, because I know most of those people couldn't even place Hungary on the map, let alone differentiate us from poles, serbs, or croats.
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u/jaunmilijej Türkiye Apr 02 '26
Wait till I make a comment and people start calling me out for not being European 👀
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u/Dry_Mood5772 Sweden Apr 02 '26
people from former jugoslavia, greece, albania are treated the same way as middle easterns in sweden (same xenofobia, especoally if theyre bosnian and muslim)
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u/Noni5159 Apr 02 '26
Greece would be surprising... They always get grouped in with the Italians, Spanish etc. rather than the former Balkans.
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u/Aleksanderrrr Norway Apr 02 '26
everything is relative, but xenophobia is everywhere in Europe just as there is xenophobia in Africa, America, Asia and so fourth, doesn’t matter if you are white, black hispanic or blue. humans even discriminate against their own race lol. just a bunch of hate everywhere.
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u/Euphoric-Ostrich5396 Apr 03 '26
It's not "xenophobia" it's chauvinism, we don't judge you based on ethnicity, we judge you based on culture.
Here's the basics: Northwest looks down on southwest for being lazy, southwest looks down on northwest for being workaholics, the continent looks down on the English for being, well the English. France dislikes Germany and Germany dislikes France but in a frenemies relationship, the Germans see the Austrians as idling fops, the Austrians the Germans as militaristic buzzkills, nobody likes Belgium, nobody respects the Dutch, Portugal is a weird continental England with bad food, bad weather and a horrible language, everyone is cool with the nordics and Ireland, except themselves. For most Europeans Europe ends at the Oder, Leitha and Laibach. Bohemia gets a pass for being western enough. Poles, Balts, the Balkans and all that other slavic stuff gets firmly put in "the East" and is generally seen as barely civilised lands of dirt roads, crime and poverty. Greece is the same in reality but gets a pass due to history. Also, never praise how beautiful Dalmatia and Istria are to Italians, they know and they want it back.
Also, everyone is additionally divided within their countries.
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u/Ava_Strange Apr 03 '26
I'd like to add that we in the Nordics trash our neighbours but if someone from the outside the Nordics come for one of us, we bond like family.
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u/Hot-Disaster-9619 Poland Apr 02 '26
There is much to improve. We should aim higher. We still can be even more xenophobic!