Europe has witnessed a contradictory development in the field of migration over the last decade. On the one hand, most European countries have adopted policies to recruit in particular highly skilled immigrants and to include them more fully within the workforce and society at large. On the other hand, however, higher levels of immigration and cultural diversity have sparked an, at times, aggressive backlash against immigrants. In this context, right-wing populist parties have become successful contenders in elections across Europe, and anti-immigrant rhetoric has been repeatedly employed also by centrist and left-wing actors in competitive party politics (Bale, 2003, Bale et al., 2010, Mudde, 2007). In the post 9/11 environment (cross-border security issues, threats of terrorism, economic uncertainty), European party systems seem to be particularly vulnerable to the exploitation of anti-immigrant sentiments for electoral gains (see also Schmidtke and Zaslove, 2013).