2021/11/16 Sussex Conference “New Dynamics of East–West Migration and Migrant Integration Within Europe and Beyond”

Across Europe, migration, asylum and refugee policies have increasingly become subject to, as well as framed within the logic of ‘crisis’ management. This paper focuses on SEE and the Covid-19 pandemic as the latest manifestation in a series of crises unfolding across the region commencing with the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is a region, which since constituting the ‘Balkan corridor’ in 2015-16, has come to occupy a particular, albeit internally differentiated, positioning in relation to European migration governance. Drawing on data accumulated through two European-funded projects – MIGRATE (2016-19) and MIGREC (2019-21) – and informed by a burgeoning scholarship on the intersection between ‘crisis’ and migration governance, we interrogate what the ‘crisis’ framing of Covid-19 has entailed for migration policy across SEE. We present evidence of policy responses, built upon pre-existing cognitive frames and practices that highlight the enfolding of one ‘crisis’ within another and the mutually reinforcing relationship between ‘crisis’ and ‘routine’ (Jeandesboz and Pallister-Wilkins 2016). Moreover, policy responses are largely instrumental and ad hoc, seeking to find a solution to the immediate ‘problem’. The ‘crisis’ frame conceals underlying systemic problems within migration policy, and fails to embed deeper social and political structural change (Tagliacozzo et al. 2020).

Keywords: Migration governance – crisis discourse – covid-19 – South-East Europe

This paper will study the impact of Covid-19 on the dominant patterns of interpretation (frames and agenda setting) of migration issues in the public sphere of Greece and North Macedonia, two countries of the ‘Balkan corridor’. Previous studies (Bosilkov and Drakaki, 2018) have demonstrated the presence of two major frames, security and humanitarianism, a Europe-wide trend evident in scholarship in this area. One has to expect either continuity (security rather than humanitarianism, deprioritization in the agenda) or a modification with emphasis on humanitarianism, solidarity and integration. This paper provides a qualitative discourse analysis of opinion papers (op-eds and editorials) from media sources in Greece and North Macedonia. It draws upon framing and priming theories to analyse basic frames applied by the media to migration issues and determine the effects of their agenda setting during 2020. The paper includes an analysis of discourse on social media platforms including aggregate summaries of citizen views shared on social media in response to news content/political statements related to migration issues and an overview of engagement with this content. These insights will be used to determine the impact of the identified media framing of migration among citizens in Greece and North Macedonia.

This paper adopts a framework of multiple crises in the EU periphery, which re-enact each other. The combination of a prolonged period of strict economic austerity measures, political and social turmoil dating back to 2010, left the country unable to deal with the influx of irregular migrants, whose numbers peaked in 2015. The Greek handling of the ‘migrant crisis’ has been conducted within the framework of EU policies and responses, exposing gaps in EU migration and asylum policies and the securitization tendencies both at the national and the EU policy formation level. COVID-19 significantly reduced the influx of migrants, whilst creating an urgent need to expedite access to housing and health services for migrants already in Greece, described as a ‘health time bomb’ due to existing poor living conditions. During the pandemic Greece’s migration governance is conducted as a two-speed process: i) restrictive measures causing severe disruptions to an already sluggish asylum system, coupled with; ii) an urgent need to depressurize camps and allow the implementation of housing policies formulated before the pandemic. This has resulted, in the absence of an effective integration system, populations of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees experience ongoing physical and socio-economic vulnerabilities.

Keywords: Greece, post-2014 ‘migrant crisis’, integration policies, COVID-19 policy responses

The Balkan migration route witnessed a transit of almost one million irregular migrants during the migration “crisis”, reaching its peak in 2015. With the closure of the route in March 2016, the number of migrants has been decreasing but the length of their stay has been prolonged. The COVID-19 crisis disabled migrants’ transit and resulted in their encampment, calling once again for policy measures that would enable the respect for the human rights and welfare of migrants.

The authors focus on policy responses to transit migration in two of the countries of the Western Balkans route: Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They analyze the impact of EU policy, actions and requirements in the two countries regarding the design and adaptation of their transit migration governance during the COVID-19 crisis. Both countries have had long-standing aspirations towards EU membership and have been putting efforts into harmonization with the acquis communautaire. In the field of transit migration governance, their weak negotiating positions vis-à-vis the EU, which has been also struggling with migration and COVID-19 crises, have resulted in acceptance of rather uncritical attitude towards the EU in exchange for access to the EU funds and positive progress reports.

Keywords: transit migration, Western Balkans Route, COVID-19, EU impact

The Republic of Serbia is a traditional emigration country. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the economic reasons for migration were accompanied by political ones. During the last decade the country has faced challenges in relation to mobility that have become increasingly dynamic and complex in scope. Emigration has become one of the key factors of depopulation and therefore is high on the political and policy agenda. The Covid-19 crisis has caused many emigrants to consider temporary or permanent return to Serbia. In the current Serbian setting, it is expected that migration will remain the central demographic and development issue in the coming years.

The aim of this paper is to analyse and discuss the attitudes of Serbian citizens towards migration and to define the factors influencing a decision to migrate. There is a pressing social need for systemic and evidence-based approaches to migration. One of the central recommendations is that policy decision-makers consult and incorporate available academic research on migration into the future public policies.

Keywords: migration, crisis, public policy, push and pull factors

This paper tackles some of the major effects that parental work migration has on children’s school performance, interpersonal communication networks and relationships’ building with both their close and distant others.

Although most recent statistics released by the National Authority for the Protection of Children’s Rights and Adoption (2019) show that in Romania there are about 94896 children left behind by their migrant parents, other studies (UNICEF, 2008) provide much larger and deeply concerning numbers (e.g. 300000) when it comes to the euro-orphans, i.e., the children whose parents left Romania in order to work in a foreign country. This fact raises important risks for the children, such as joining inappropriate peer-groups, violence, human trafficking, and particularly poor results in education or school drop-out. In this context, using a qualitative approach based on 15 in-depth interviews, the main goal of the current research is to provide an image regarding the impact of the migratory phenomenon on the children that are left behind in rural Romania (from their own stance), as well as a better understanding of the consequences of parents’ departure on their social, communication and educational behavior.

Keywords: parental work migration, school performance, new communication technologies, Romanian migrants, transnational families

International scholars underline the significant role of children for migration trajectories, emphasising the research relevance on related family behaviour. Aspirations for the children’s well-being may lead to different decisional outcomes on spatial and temporal level which renders familial migration a set of diverse occurrences. The interrelation between migration motivation and education may become ambiguous with respect to outcomes. Migration may be thus either driven by aspirations for own education or educational opportunities for the offspring. Or, migratory projects, especially those that ground in unsatisfying life conditions in the home context, may have an important agency on the educational trajectory of the 2nd generations. Higher economic pressure may lead to an increased propensity for migration and lower parental qualities, which in turn may favour lower academic achievement of their children (Robila 2011).  The central focus of this work grounds in these premises and puts data (retrieved from in-depth interviews) from a total of 24 Romanian and German migrant biographies, all settled in Turin (Italy), into a comparative perspective. Considering also cultural dispositions, the study analyses parental educational strategies (chosen learning environments, contents and delegations) to carve out potentials and dynamics towards future mobility intentions and strings.

Keywords: Highly skilled movers, cultural dimensions, educational opportunities, parental strategies

In the last ten years, several data confirm the relevance of a new migratory path involving second generations, and especially those with an high level of education. Indeed, after their graduations or phd experience, several of them are becoming new migrants leaving their European home-country for another European destination or back to their parents’ country of origins due to several reasons: living conditions, lack of discriminatory policies in entering the labour market, involvement in transnational activities, identities and willing f rediscovering ethnic- cultural roots. The paper focuses on this peculiar migratory path involving children of immigrants born in Southern European countries. Based on a study focused on qualitative interviews gathered in Spain and Italy with young people (24-29 years old) with a migratory background (40 interviews, gendered balanced), we will discuss driving reasons behind the decision of developing a migratory project and to what extent the experience of being children of immigrants affected this decision.

Keywords: second generation, youth, education, transnationalism, identity

This qualitative study reveals the voices of 30 young people (18-21) volunteer in informal educational settings for asylum seekers children. It’s describes their actions to promote children integration: (1) personal-emotional connection; (2) value education; (3) Promoting academic achievement. The informal settings operate seven days a week from morning to late evening. It’s allowed for a respite from the complex life circumstances and creates a seemingly normal and routine space, and provides opportunities for play, learning and language acquisition for those children from low socio-economic status. Studies indicated that there is a correlation between the socio-economic status of children and the chances of their integration into Israeli society. One of the causes of inter-class mobility is education, which may increase the chances of their social integration. Despite adaptation difficulties, cultural disparities, opposition and violence from Israeli neighbors and children’s trust, the volunteers were able to strengthen their sense of self-efficacy in taking part in shaping their future, embark on an independent life and leading their community, while expressing criticism, activists and increasing the chances of moving to a higher social status.

Recent research has brought anew interests in researching and understanding current patterns of return migration and its consequences. Drawing on one fieldwork location in Romania, a small city in the southern Transylvania, this paper investigates the types of return processes occurring in a context of strong process of emigration and looks into the consequences of these return processes on local social stratification. The paper aims at capturing returnees’ transnational involvements and migration projects over the years. It analyses what sort of inequality emerges within different types of returnees and why some returnees are becoming important economic actors while the role of others is less important. In order to answer this question, I first assess how returnees aim to use the resources they have at disposal and use their migratory experience. In this respect I contend that context plays a structuring role on how returnees fare. Employing a longer-term perspective I show how contexts changes influence how returnees fare over the years, differentiating between contexts when economy was collapsing, one in which poverty was widespread and one in which there is growth.

Keywords: return migration, social and economic transformations, returnees’ positionality

This paper examines remigration considerations amongst Romanian returnees from various European countries, drawing on 120 interviews with participants aged 20-40. Whilst returnees’ motivations and reintegration experiences are increasingly well documented, much less is known about the remigration intentions of those who have moved back to the country of origin for some time. Yet, ongoing mobility and remigration are common phenomena (White 2014), and offer unique insight into returnees’ adaptation, life trajectories, and aspirations. Our paper contributes to this under-researched area by exploring how young Romanian returnees think and talk about remigration. We pay specific attention to how economic and family circumstances shape remigration considerations in the case of students, higher- and lower-skilled workers. We find that remigration considerations are often informed by a comparison between “then” and “now”, whereby returnees compare where in life they are now, in terms of age, work, and family circumstances, to then, when they initially migrated. In contrast to the more experimental and spontaneous moves undertaken in the past, reflections on remigration indicate much more careful assessment and clearly defined parameters, dictated by returnees’ different and increasingly complex life circumstances. In many cases, remigration thus depends heavily on the promise of employment security, financial and professional rewards, and/or opportunities for family members abroad. Our findings extend life-course perspectives on migration, showing how transitions to adulthood in the sphere of work and family crucially shape returnees’ remigration intentions, and im/mobility more generally, in conjunction with previous experiences abroad, transnational connections, and life on return.

Keywords: return migration; remigration; intra-EU mobility; Romania

How can we interpret the paradox of migrants’ frequent ambivalence about return which often runs parallel to the maintenance of significant ties, interpersonal and emotional, but also as real estate ownership, in countries of origin? A transnational optic permits analyses which encompass the ‘here’ and ‘there’ of many migrants’ lives, reflecting often plural and ambivalent belonging. This paper seeks to further existing conceptualization by connecting past emigration stories, including complex migration trajectories, with migrants’ reflections about future mobility and immobility, including possible return – and real estate ownership ‘back home’. We draw on 80 semi-structured interviews with Polish and Romanian migrants living in Barcelona and Oslo, conducted in 2020. All interviews were conducted in Polish and Romanian, transcribed and translated into English, and coded using NVivo. While building on two cases of East-to-West migration within Europe, we include past (and potential future) mobilities within and beyond Europe in our analytical framework, contributing to the growing body of work on onward mobilities. Our analysis focuses on how owning real estate in Poland or Romania (which nearly half of our interviewees did) intersects in particular ways with emigration stories, considerations about future (im)mobility, and migrants’ perspectives on politics in countries of origin.

Keywords: (im)mobilities – real estate – multiple belonging – political views – life course – time – return

Since decades, Kosovo is a country of mass-emigration. In 2016, it had an estimated stock of 550 000 emigrants, which amounts to almost 30% of its population. Hence, it is not exaggerated to say that the country has been profoundly shaped by migration. This is reflected in a growing body of literature which however exhibits blind spots when it comes to return migration. This applies all the more to female return migration and its role in shaping the country. This study contributes to closing this research gap. Based on the concept of intangible remittances, we analyze how highly skilled female Kosovar returnees experience their sojourn and return, what kind of intangible assets they acquire and transfer to Kosovo and which motivations underlie these transfers.

Using qualitative in-depth interviews, we find that all participants experienced their stay in Western Europe/Northern America as empowering. Moreover, we show that the majority of them was eager to transfer the resources they had gained abroad upon their return. The most frequently transferred intangible assets included open-mindedness, gender-equality and notions of civic rights and responsibilities. However, most participants faced grave conflicts after their return which impeded the intangible remittance transfer process.

Keywords: Return Migration, Kosovo, Intangible Remittances, Social Remittances

In a context still featured by ongoing massive westward emigration, how can we interpret the paradox of migrants returning back home to start importation of used cars from their previous destination countries? This article aims to understand how the decision to establish a new transnational business endeavor among returnees is taken by using insights from 50 semi-structured interviews conducted with migrants involved in transnational trade with used cars imported in Romania from Western Europe, a mass phenomenon in CEE area which is little studied. An important result of this research is that the binary typology of opportunity vs. necessity driven entrepreneurs seems to partially overlook the dynamic nature of entrepreneurial motivations as they appear in this research. Thus, while some returnees seem to be ‘pulled’ or ‘pushed’ into entrepreneurship, several other entrepreneurs’ decision seem to be shaped by various other variables such as family traditions, socio-demographic traits, or previous involvement in various transnational activities.

Keywords: Used car importation; return migration; transnational entrepreneurship; East–West mobility

In 2014 the last remaining restrictions to intra-EU labour mobility for Bulgarians and Romanians have been dropped, an act that has been perceived as marking the full incorporation of new member states’ citizens as legal and moral equals in an integrated union. The stark discrepancy between the formal economic, social and political rights granted by EU citizenship and their enactment in everyday practices has signalled the existence of more and less tangible barriers to welfare and labour market incorporation affecting these particular groups of EU migrants. This paper explores the range of institutionalised and informal mechanisms of exclusion deployed by the UK state in the molding of a group of Bulgarian ‘free-movers’ with permanent settlement plans into a precarious and super-mobile labour force. I demonstrate how upon their arrival Bulgarian would-be ‘settlers’ are implicated in a socio-political and legal process of irregularisation that precludes their access to welfare protection and service provision by directing them into ‘illegal’ forms of employment and housing arrangements, as well as to an encapsulation in the ‘migrant economy’. The adoption of an ‘ethnographic regime approach’ (Hess and Tsianos 2010) to irregularisation allows me to recognize such multiscalar ‘tactics’ of governing (De Genova 2004) not just as deliberate state control mechanisms but as also stemming from migrants’ practices, perceptions and positionings within discursive frameworks, such as welfare shaming and ideas of entrepreneurial citizenship

Keywords: intra-EU migration, irregularisation, bordering, differential inclusion, welfare

Recent research has problematised the civic integration paradigm and aggressive integrationism, referring to (immigrant) integration as to be achieved by coercing, testing, penalising and, ultimately, excluding. This paper studies integration as a category of practice in Switzerland, where naturalisation and residency permits are predicated on integration requirements such as ‘respecting the values of the Federal Constitution’. Against the theoretical backdrop of critical integration studies and boundary liberalism, the paper enquires into the social imaginaries (re)produced by integration policies and discourses. The empirical analysis of the legislative process and qualitative interviews among public authorities shows that the knowledge produced on integration and especially its value dimension presupposes and reproduces the social imaginary of society as a community of value. The extent to which those expected to integrate are believed to have acceptably liberal values has become a site of boundary making. The value dimension of integration draws a bright, gendered, and nativist boundary against an imagined Swiss or European community of value. Thus, challenging predominant ways of conceiving ‘integration’, the paper argues that this social imaginary of the ‘liberal Self’ against the ‘illiberal Other’ and its reproduction and enforcement by state authorities undermines fundamental premises of liberal democracy.

Keywords: integration, liberalism, values, integrationism, boundary making

European integration is tightly connected to its common market and the four freedoms. Among those, the freedom of movement (FoM) for workers and persons is considered as a principle of both, political and economic integration. Since EU Eastern enlargement in 2004 the common market has become more heterogeneous in terms of differentials in income, opportunities for social mobility, and working conditions. From inside the EU, labour mobility as a result of socio-economic heterogeneity is a part of the EU’s agenda for economic growth and development. While East-West migration and its implications on receiving countries’ societies and labour markets has been much debated in public and scholarly discourse, we know relatively little about externalities of such movements in Eastern European sending countries. How do sending countries react to continuous emigration? Do they support it or do they foster measures aiming at non-emigration? Theoretically, we confront neo-classical economic and migration theory, explaining movements as rational cost-benefit calculations of individuals leading to growth in both receiving and sending countries, with accounts from dependency theory. The latter, prominent in the 1960s and 1970s, considers emigration as not only positive for a country’s economic development. Thus, the contribution sheds light at East-West migration from both theoretical angles and discusses their viability in light of empirical evidence. We argue that dependency theory can explain externalities in how EU FoM impacts on sending countries complementing accounts from neo-classical economics. Moreover, awareness of externalities feeds back into the integration process of which FoM is a key element. To a certain extent positive feedback is disrupted testing assumptions from neo-functionalist integration theory for ever more integration brought on by FoM.

Keywords: EU emigration, dependency theory, East-West migration

In the recent decades, the European Union and member states’ model of technocratic policy making and governance has encountered numerous difficulties. On the one hand there has been the financial crisis, migration crisis and COVID-crisis, to mention only some. On the other, the disaffection of a wide range of citizens has given rise to various populist forces influencing also mainstream politics. Migration has been a persistent issue for the nationalist right populism (e.g. Eatwell, Gordon 2018). In Europe the issue has been on the rise for decades. Fears of Islamisation and the opening of the labour market to new Eastern European member states provided a fertile ground for political entrepreneurs long before the 2015-16 migration crisis and 2016-20 Brexit saga made it plain that migration policy and governance need context adequate politics.

This paper will focus on the practical opportunities for developing a more supportive political context for migration policies while also observing the opportunities to develop these to better fit to their contexts. Building on the earlier publications (Kalev, Jakobson 2020, Kalev forthcoming) I will develop the subject area with a more practical and generalising perspective.

Keywords: Migration policy, politics of migration, Europe, European Union

During the evening of 4 May 1978, Altab Ali, a 24-year-old migrant garment worker from Bangladesh, was murdered by three youths in a racially motivated attack in London’s East End. According to a Bengali activist, Altab Ali’s murder ‘marked a turning point in the political awakening of the Bengali diasporic community in Tower Hamlets’. The death sent shockwaves through the migrant community and there was a massive eruption of grief. Bengali clothing workers, tailors and restaurant workers took to the streets in their thousands for marches, rallies and sit-downs demanding action to stop racist attacks. From the previously held view of majority community & the racists, of the Bengalis as passive victims of racism, a new generation of courageous, Bengali radicalised youth leaders rose. In mobilising, these activists asserted their rights as British citizens and demanded protection from state institutions. In doing so, they also attempted to integrate themselves into mainstream politics to bring about meaningful changes for their community. This paper will explore the process of integration of East London’s Bengali migrants from being passive victims to anti-racist activists to finally becoming politically active British citizens.

Keywords: Integration, mobilisation

The dominant perspective of gendered labour migrations focuses on the transfer of emotional and material labour from poorer countries either in the South or the less wealthy North, such as Eastern Europe, to the wealthy North. At the same time outflows beyond Europe to non-Western and global South destinations have highlighted the expatriate mobility of corporate males as well as professional migrations to GCC countries. Drawing on research in the project on the Gendered Dynamics of International Labour Migration (GCRF Hub Gender, Justice and Security) on upper middle (Kurdistan Region, Iraq; Turkey) and lower middle (Pakistan) income countries, we focus on educated female migrants working largely across sectors of education, translation and communication. Most of our interviewees were single at the time of migration though some subsequently married citizens of the country. This mobility, of what could be categorised as middling transnationals, can be situated within a context of a growing precarity of employment and dissatisfaction about opportunities in European and North American states that have generated a flow of younger people using their cultural capital and, in many instances, improving their social mobility and/or responding to a sense of adventure. Our analysis contributes to a fuller gendered understanding of global labour migrations beyond less skilled migrants and a decentering and resetting of its focus from South to North migrations.

Keywords: Gender, labour migration, professionals, transnational middling, North-South, decentering

Abstract

Poland undergoes transition into the country of immigration (Okólski, Wach 2020). The largest migrant groups in Poland are Ukrainians and Belarusians (especially since August 2020 elections and following repressions). Women constitute almost half of the migrant population from above mentioned countries. Socially embedded they become active actors of social interactions and activities either within or beyond ethnic communities, create integrative spaces for themselves to ensure mutual (instrumental, informational, emotional) support, sense of belonging, solidarity and self-affirmation. Through interactions and social contacts, migrant women redefine femininity (Kanasz 2020) and create a group identity (Grzymala-Kazłowska 2016).

The analysis focuses on the narrow scope of “women-to-women“ social relations and the importance of these social ties for self-realisation, for retaining sense of security and acquisition of agency in the context of everyday life in Poland. The study focuses on a group of Russian-speaking migrants and includes 15 in-depth interviews conducted in January-June 2021 and the e-content analyses of the online conversations on  Facebook groups.

Keywords: agency, women migrants, integration, social network, gender studies

The aim of the presentation is to shed light on the role of the migration industry in facilitating an example of temporary economic mobility that emerged after 2004 between Poland and Germany. It is estimated that every year around 300,000 workers from Poland travel to Germany to take up employment in the private home care sector. This high scale of mobility is made possible by the use of the posting of workers regulations by private intermediaries in both countries. Due to close cooperation between brokering and employment agencies, households in Germany are assured of a good worker just in time. Importantly, the posted workers are formally employed and insured by a company in Poland, but they provide their services in Germany, which consequently creates completely new circumstances for understanding the mobility phenomenon of the so-called low-skilled migrant. Using empirical data (2017-2021) from several research projects (in-depth interviews with agency owners and representatives, experts, stakeholders and Polish migrants) on care migration from Poland to Germany, I will explain the specific situation and strategies (i.e. towards workers, business partners, clients) of the actors of migration industry, who, in the absence of precise regulations and political interest, freely shape the practice in this field.

Keywords: migrant care workers, migration industry, posting of workers, Poland, Germany

Gender and migration has long been a hot topic for the research communities in both, host and returning countries. In Albania, where migration was first dominated by males, this topic became more of an issue mainly after 2010, when female migration became more evident. While there are many studies that analyze the recent migration dynamics in Albania, a few of them tackle the issue from a gender perspective.

This paper explores the gendered experiences of female migrants from Albania. We rely on 12 in-depth interviews with female migrants who migrated in Western Europe countries and USA by themselves, and not by following their husbands or family. This information is helpful to assess their path of the migration cycle, the decision to migrate and their preparedness before leaving, the human capital accumulation acquired in the host country, and their ability to integrate in the host country. More importantly, it further offers a more detailed understanding of the self-selection of each of the above steps of the migration cycle as opposed to their counterparts who chose not to emigrate at all, emigrate but not relying on their own, or remained unemployed while in host country. Our findings suggest that, while more women migrated by following their husbands, there is an increase in the feminization of migration from Albania. The paper argues that migration experiences has played an undisputable role in the Albanian women empowerment.

Keywords: gender, migration, integration, empowerment, Albania.