Assignment I. "Discuss the ways immigration enriches a host society while also creating problems for this society. How can you draw connections to prevailing objections against immigration?"  Response In the media and political debates Austria is often showcased as an immigration country “this is especially claimed by certain parties." In fact Austria's naturalization rate isn't high but below-average. What has to be taken into account when speaking of immigration in this context is the European Union and Austria's membership. As soon as Austria joined the EU in 1995 the former external migration turned into internal. If we think of the European internal market there are the "four freedoms  to list, namely: free movement of goods, capital, service and people within its member states. And still, if you watch the political discussion it seems like we haven't fully become Europeans yet. The latest example is the fear of "getting flooded  due to the the opening of the labour market to Bulgaria and Romania this year. Apart from being an irrational fear "previous occasions of this type," (like the opening to new EU-members in 2011) have shown that the rush of job seekers had been absent, I want to point out that this fear is the case (as well as previous cases) due to certain politicians and parts of media. "The arrangement of political institutions and organizations like political parties [and media; A.T.] deeply shape how immigration and integration are perceived" (Parsons and Smeeding, 2006, p. 17). There is a noticeable trend in various states to a currently popular "anti-EU-attitude which goes hand in hand with nationalist tendencies and objections against immigration" (this has been initiated as well as boosted by the economic and financial crisis which results in the current crisis of the European Union altogether). What is often left out in the discussion is the fact that immigration plays an important role in Europe's