A respected German institute has produced some interesting figures on immigration. During the first ten years after Polish re-independence, 900,000 people left Poland, a country with a population of 38.5 million. Of those 900,000 people, 600,000 returned to Poland before the end of the decade. Therefore, the net amount of Polish emigrants was 300,000. Just as most Irish people went to Britain, 74% of the 300,000 Poles settled in neighbouring Germany and Austria, countries with a common land border. The German and Austrian Governments, in an attempt to prevent Mr. Haider and his German equivalents from using immigration as a political football, asked the Commission and the Council of Ministers for breathing space. In the 1980s the French Government thought that many Spanish and Portuguese citizens would move to France, but the issue had died of natural causes within two years. Like the Irish, the Spanish and Portuguese prefer to live near their families, if afforded the opportunity of living at home. They are fond of their local football team or pub.