Migration in Central and Eastern Europe
Poland
Poland is a country of emigration with its migration flows falling in recent years. The country is relatively open to accept labour migrants and the number of issued work permits has constantly been rising since 2007. Moreover, Poland runs a simplified procedure of granting work visas to residents of Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. Nonetheless, according to Eurostat, citizens of other countries made only 0.1 percent of the Polish population in 2011, the lowest rate in the whole EU. The national data state that the number of legally staying immigrants reach 97 thousand and there might be another 50-70 thousand staying illegally (NGOs estimate the overall number of immigrants at almost half million). In 2011, the Polish Parliament passed the Act on Legalisation of Stay of Foreigners, a third and most liberal regularization in row. Last year, a new bill on Polish citizenship (Polish only) entered into force. In 2012, the Polish migration policy – current state of play and further actions (Polish only) was adopted, a first comprehensive document on migration policy addressing also the issue of immigrants’ integration.
Press release: The new MKC Prague project seeks better enforcement of labor law across borders
On 28 and 29 April, the first meeting of the international project that responds to an increase in labor migration to Central Europe took place in Prague. Its participants were experts and representatives of non-governmental organizations from the Visegrad Group countries and Ukraine.
Czech Republic: Workshop on Class and nationalism in Central Europe and Beyond
Partner: The Multicultural Centre Prague
Location: Tranzitdisplay Gallery, Prague
Date: 16 July 2016
Number of participants: 30
Germany: Together We Can Fight Social Dumping – Establishing a New Network on Polish Migration
Partner: The Polish Social Council
Location: Polnischer Sozialrat e. V., Berlin
Date: July 2-3, 2016
Number of participants: 33
Poland: Labour Conditions Facing Polish Migrant Workers in the EU Labour Market
Partner: The Galician Foundation for Regional Development
Location: Państwomiasto, ul. Andersa 29, Warszawa
Date: July 1, 2016
Social Standards at Risk: Making the case for Labour Citizenship in Europe
Across Europe, mobile EU workers are experiencing various types of labour rights violations and exploitation which form serious obstacles to their rights as mobile EU citizens. In our project “LABCIT” we are “testing” the ability of European citizenship to be extended to work situations through a series of public hearings with workers and stakeholders across 6 countries (Czech Republic, G...
