1
 OVERVIEW OF MIGRATION PROCESSES IN EAST/CENTRAL
EUROPE

• Dušan DrbohlavCharles University
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Faculty of Science, Department of Social
  Geography and
• Regional Development  drbohlav_at_natur.cuni.cz

2

• Based on a presentation International Migration
  Patterns in the New EU Member States. A
  contribution delivered at an international
  annual seminar 2004 Europes Coming
  Generations Demographic Trends and Social
  Change, organized by the European Observatory
  on the Social Situation, Demography and Family,
  the Austrian Institute for Family Studies and the
  European Commission. Brussels, Belgium, September
  2004.

3
GOALS TO DESCRIBE AND PARTLY EXPLAIN
MIGRATION PATTERNS IN EIGHT NEW MEMBER STATES
(NMS) The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and
Slovenia. STRUCTURE - BRIEF
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW - MIGRATORY TYPES AND
OVERALL MIGRATION SCALES - FACTORS
CONTRIBUTING TO MOVEMENTS - IMPACT OF MIGRATION
ON SOCIETIES - POLICES AND PRACTICES -
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS - PROBABLE
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIGRATION MOVEMENTS
4
THIS PAPER IS BASED ON 1) AUTHORS OWN
EXPERIENCE 2) RESULTS OF THE EU PROJECT
Sharing Experience Migration Trends in
Selected Applicant Countries and Lessons Learned
from New Countries of Immigration in the EU and
Austria (see Drbohlav 2004, Korys 2004,
Divinský 2004, and Zavratnik-Zimic 2004) 3)
SALTS STUDY (2003) 4) OTHER SOURCES (e.g.,
Wallace-Stola 2001, Kielyte 2002, Nyíri 2003,
Niessen-Schibel 2003, Zsoter 2003, Krieger 2004,
A New 2004).
5
HISTORY

• 1) 19th century the FWW Mass migration to the
  New World
• 2) Interwar period labour migration to WE
• 3) Aftermath of the SWW 30 million people (12
  million ethnic Germans) on the move
• 4) Since the end of the 1940s
  socialist/communist regimes international
  migration greatly restricted
• - illegal emigration in the wake of political
  upheavels Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1948,
  1968, and Poland 1980/1982
• - ethnically based migration
• - mutual exchange (among socialist countries) of
  labour force (Vietnam, Cuba, Angola etc.)

6
HISTORY

• From more liberal towards extremely
  restrictive migration policies during the
  communist era
• 1) Slovenia (within former Yugoslavia) and
  Hungary
• 2) Poland and Czechoslovakia
• 3) the Baltic states

7
HISTORY

• THE FOLLOWING HISTORICAL MIGRATORY LINKS OF THE
  NMS HAVE PARTICULARLY BEEN DEVELOPED AND
  ESTABLISHED
•  
• The Baltic states Russia, Finland,
  Germany
• The Czech Republic Slovakia, Germany, USA
• Hungary Romania, former Yugoslavia,
  Slovakia
• Poland the former Soviet Union, Germany,
  France, USA
• Slovakia the Czech Republic, USA,
  Hungary
• Slovenia the former Yugoslavia, Germany,
  Austria, Italy

8
MIGRATORY TYPES AND OVERALL MIGRATION SCALES

• A HIGHLY COMPLEX MIGRATION FIELD - an enormous
  variety of both long and short term movements to,
  from, and within the region
• - classical permanent migrants
• - labour circular migrants
• - petty traders/labour tourists
• - cross-border commuters
• - transit migrants
• - asylum seekers
• - Western immigrants
• - ethnic immigrants
• Many illegal/irregular migrants

9
International Migration Patterns in NMSEstimate
Beginning of the 2000s
10
CURRENT MIGRATION PATTERNS ESTIMATES FLOWS
INTO, OUT, THROUGH (in absolute terms)
11
Population, Area, and Components of Population
Change in NMS, 2000-2002 
12
Selected Migratory Parametres Stocks in NMS,
2002
13
Selected Migratory Parametres Flows in NMS,
2001-2002
14
Number of Asylum Applications Submitted in NMS,
1998-2003 (in thousands)
15
Factors Contributing to Migration Movements

• PUSH/PULL FACTORS
• - Economic conditions
• - Democratic regime, political stability
• - Geographic locations
• - Migratory legislation and practices
• - Cultural distance (natives vis-a-vis immigrant
  groups)
• - Diasporas
• - Perception of immigrants by native population
  (xenophobia)
• It seems that there are no strong push factors
  that would propel a mass migration from NMS
  except Poland.

16
Impact of Migration Movements on Societies

• In particular, ECONOMICALLY-DRIVEN immigration
  helps propel motors of transformation processes
  mainly in capitals and other urban areas
• X
• Often brain-waste and exploitation for/of
  illegal/irregular immigrants
• - Circular labour migrants via trans-border
  commuting improve
• living standards and local/regional milieu
• - Western immigrants transfer know-how and new
  technologies and new cultural patterns (e.g.
  capitalist ethos of work)
• Immigration vis-a-vis CULTURAL contributions,
  DEMOGRAPHIC changes, changes in the SOCIAL and
  GEOGRAPHICAL structures gtgtgt so far no
  nation-wide influence on these issues

17
Migration/Integration Policies and Practices

• There was a mandatory alignment with the EU norms
  (with some exceptions e.g. the Schengen
  Agreement)
• More restrictive rather than more liberal
  policies (reinforce border controls, tighten visa
  regimes, strict asylum schemes, etc.)
• Coherent and mutually complementary policies are
  still missing gtgtgt Czechia (followed by Poland
  and Slovenia) did more than other NMS while
  forming their policies/practices
• States integration programs ethnically based
  migrants preferred (contoversial issues
  Hungary, Slovakia)
• New pro-active policy Czechia and its program
  targeted at attracting skilled/qualified foreign
  labour force

18
Conclusions

• The conditionality of migration, qualitative
  aspects of the migratory process and the nature
  of the migration policies and practices - similar
  to those in Western Europe
• In NMS, there is more intensive mobility, more
  immigration, and more transit movements, while
  generally emigration from NMS has been
  stabilizing or decreasing
• However, in terms of migratory patterns, NMS
  create no homogeneous group
• As compared to other NMS, the Baltic states are,
  for many reasons, at a less developed stage

19
Probable Future Development

• Past experience and several studies of the
  prospective enlargement have failed to indicate
  that further large scale movements from the new
  to the existing member states will occur,
  although there is bound to be some redistribution
  of population as the economies of the EU become
  more integrated (Salt 2003)

20
Immigration to Selected Western European
Countries from CEEC Delphi survey, N15 and 9
Czech experts, 2003
21
Emigration from Selected CEEC to Western Europe
Delphi survey, N15 and 9 Czech experts, 2003