Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,
A new report backed by European conservative lawmakers is sounding the alarm over what it describes as the spread of “no-go zones” across the European Union, linking the phenomenon directly to mass immigration, Islamization, and the breakdown of state authority in major urban areas.
The report was presented at a press conference on Wednesday by Sweden Democrats MEP Charlie Weimers, French nationalist MEP Marion Maréchal, and Brothers of Italy MEP Nicola Procaccini. Published by New Direction, the foundation tied to the ECR parliamentary group, the study argues that large parts of Europe are witnessing the rise of “parallel societies where the laws of the State are increasingly replaced by the codes of radicalisation and the rule of violence.”
Maréchal said the findings showed the trend was no myth. “France has 751 sensitive areas and 1,362 priority neighborhoods. Our study demonstrates that no-go zones develop according to two factors: immigration and Islamization — 63 percent of Islamist terrorists are linked to these areas,” she said at the launch event.
Procaccini described the document as “a wake-up call on the failures of uncontrolled immigration,” a line that closely echoed the report’s own foreword, which says Europe must confront “the failures of uncontrolled immigration, the lack of effective integration policies, and the abdication of responsibility by local governments.” It adds that the publication is intended to be the first in an annual series.
The study sets out a scoring system built around crime and violence, the existence of parallel societies, and evidence of state withdrawal.
Using that framework, it examined 17 neighborhoods across seven EU countries, ranking France’s Franc Moisin district at the top with a score of 10, followed by La Castellane in Marseille, Molenbeek in Brussels, and Rosengard in Malmö, each with scores of 9.4. Other districts highlighted include Neukölln in Berlin, Marxloh in Duisburg, Raval in Barcelona, and Schilderswijk in The Hague.
According to the report, these areas are marked by patterns such as elevated violent crime, youth gang activity, riots, unemployment, early school leaving, attacks on police or firefighters, and emergency-service delays or refusals. The authors argue that these factors together point to places where state control has weakened, and parallel authority structures have arisen.
The report also claims a strong correlation between no-go zones and the share of foreign-born and Muslim populations, arguing that the overrepresentation of both in the studied districts reflects broader demographic and cultural changes reshaping European cities.
It says the average Muslim share in the identified areas is 29 percent, compared with an EU-wide average of 4.9 percent, and argues that no-go zones are “highly correlated to mass immigration” and “highly correlated to Islam.”
In its foreword, New Direction says the reluctance to use terms like “no-go zone” has created a divide between public debate and reality, and warns that Europe risks losing not only control of its streets but also “the very values of freedom and equality that define our civilization” if such areas continue to thrive.
The term has been used before to describe specific areas in European cities with high levels of immigration and crime. In November last year, Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Martin Hess warned that German train stations, “once places of mobility and peaceful encounters, are increasingly becoming no-go areas. In many areas of crime, foreigners are disproportionately represented among the suspects.”
In September, a leaked recording from the Spanish town of Torelló revealed local police officers acknowledging they are unable to control violent migrant groups gathering in certain areas, and have been laughed at and forced to retreat from dispatch calls.
“They are laughing at us,” the officer said in the call. “They are throwing us out. If we don’t want to get hurt, we too [must leave],” he added, describing how officers had to withdraw after being met with hostility.
As far back as 2022, Swedish ambulance workers were threatening to refuse to go to certain neighborhoods in Stockholm due to the hostility from largely migrant populations.
“We’re worried that someone will get killed if nothing happens,” specialist nurse Linda Orrvik said at the time.
“We go to places where gun violence occurs, places where there are weapons and narcotics, and places where there are other rules than the rule of law we’re used to,” added paramedic Henrik Johansson.