Migratory movements from countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Beschreibung

"The discussion in the Federal Republic of Germany as well as in Austria about the 'new' immigration from Europe's Eastern nations bears the imprint of some spectacular developments. The 'Polish market' in Berlin, the numerous buy-and-resale activities, street-vendors, irregular Camps, new columns of vehicles, some with uncommon number plates: all this found expression in newspaper headlines, such as: 'Hundreds of thousands in front of Vienna's gates'.', 'Before a new migration of nations?', 'Treks from the East!'. Thus, fears and apprehensions manifested themselves about how society and individuals could cope with these developments, together with an increase in the employment of foreigners, increasing numbers of refugees, the influx of emigrants, 'Aussiedler' (repatriated immigrants of German origin) and 'Übersiedler' (immigrants from the German Democratic Republic). These uncertainties are also seen in government reactions: army engagement at the borders (in Austria), reintroduction of visas for nationals of one country while abolishing visas for nationals of others (in Germany and Austria). These developments have to be considered against the background of the political situation in Europe: on the one hand the economic and political process of Integration in Western Europe (Single European Market 1992; European Economic Space) has intensified, with the consequence of a certain tendency to 'lock up' the borders (eg common visa and refugee policies). On the other hand, the homogeneous bloc in the East has already more or less dissolved (the most obvious indication is the political unification of Germany), and the political and economic systems have been liberalised simultaneously. Because of the changed political conditions this directly affects the migration process and the migration opportunities: the liberalisation in the East has created the necessary preconditions for a realisation of migration potential by providing freedom of travel and the opening of borders; on the other hand, Integration in the West is just making possible a harmonised, and therefore more effective, protection from new migration movements by homogeneous regulations for all EEC member countries, ie by a reduction of loopholes at the external borders of the EEC. The current discussion and analysis of new migration movements, however, is materially affected by the fact that, because of the spectacular nature of recent phenomena, there is a tendency to disregard the real facts of these developments. In this paper an effort is made to compile these facts. The most recent developments will be shown together with their dimensions and structures (groups of persons, structures of nations). What is really new in these developments will be shown next, as will the causes, both those in the countries of origin and those in the countries of destination. This will be followed by reflections on the possible future tendencies in East-West migration. Finally - after outlining the hitherto existing reactions of both sets of countries to the new situation - the conclusions that can be drawn from the changes and prospects of the potential migratory developments will be discussed." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Zitationshinweis

Hönekopp, Elmar (1991): Migratory movements from countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Causes and characteristics, present situation and possible future trends - the cases of Germany and Austria. Strasbourg, 37 S.