The European social affairs commissioner, Padraig Flynn, has expressed extreme concern at a survey which suggests that one in three Europeans are self-confessed racists. The figures for Britain suggests two-thirds of people believe the UK has reached its limit for absorbing minority groups. Here's our Europe political correspondent, Emma Udwin.

The survey of 16,000 people conducted earlier this year by the polling organisation, Euro-barometer, reveals a surprising lack of embarrassment at confessing to racism. One-third said they saw themselves as quite, or very, racist, and another third as a little racist.

The figures for Britain place it almost exactly in line with this European average. But in some countries, the situation appears to be even more serious.

In Belgium, over half the respondents felt they were quite, or very, racist, and over 40%, in France and Austria. Mr Flynn described the figures as shocking, but a spokesman pointed out that surveys on racism often elicit ambivalent replies and this one also suggests that nearly nine out of ten people opposed any discrimination based on a person's race, religion or culture.