Immigration into and into Europe has increased in recent years, increasing the anxieties of local populations (Pilcher 2010, p445). I will examine the socio-cultural challenges that immigration introduces. These include the real and perceived impacts on Native populations and the policy responses that arise from those issues. Next, economic well-being is one aspect of the immigration issue that will be examined. I will consider some of the various problems encountered in dealing with this topic. While no attempts are made to reach conclusions about the actual effects of immigration in economic terms, considering the arguments advanced can help assess the scale of the challenge posed by immigration. I will also examine some of the structural changes that immigration brings to the political sphere, influencing electoral and representative politics. With constituencies changing significantly in different countries, the resulting changes in politics and governance are concerns that need to be taken seriously. Social and cultural challenges The social and cultural tensions that arise from hosting immigrant communities are often expressed as a failure to integrate or assimilate immigrants into society. However, the fractures can be amplified due to the liberal and egalitarian doctrines on which European states are founded. It is necessary to take measures for immigrant citizens that could cause resentment in the existing population as a consequence of competition for dwindling resources, as well as a general factor of cultural stability (Lahav 2004, p1167). However, this difficulty could be alleviated by the inclusion of non-EU immigrants in a reformulation of European identity. If, as Diez and Whitman (2002) argue...... half of the paper ...... ect individuals at the micro level, but research suggests that there are context-dependent problems in societies. This means that the challenges posed by immigration cannot be addressed by assuming that macroeconomic scenarios accommodate different solutions. Countries at both ends of the spectrum face problems in managing immigration and its consequences on different strata of existing society. Once again, the challenge here is one that political leaders and the mass media are not yet sure about. If the effects of immigration on the economy are to be ascertained, then the implementation of appropriate policies must be pursued without regard to political and ideological pressures. The biggest challenge facing European states when it comes to immigration is identifying the causes of insecurity, both in immigrant and native communities, and addressing them.