Migration in Central and Eastern Europe
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic remains an important country of immigration, although the immigration flows fell sharply in the context of the economic crisis. The main purposes of immigration are family reunification, employment and education. According to official statistics, the total number of immigrants holding a residence permit slightly increased in 2011 to about 434 000, which represented around 4 % of the total population. The major immigrant communities are Ukrainian, Slovak, Vietnamese and Russian. In 2011, the government adopted the Updated Policy for Integration of Immigrants and in 2012 the Procedure of Implementation of the Updated Policy for Integration of Immigrants (Czech only). In terms of legislation, in 2012 the government approved much debated legislative intent of the new legal regulation (Czech only) of entry and residence of foreign citizens in the Czech Republic.
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.
Foreign workers according to Czech politicians: 8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for misdemeanors
The Czech Interior Minister Chovanec has discovered a new border that must be protected. This time it is an interior one, which consists of foreign workers in the industrial cities who "come over more or less without any control", and, in the words of the Chief of Police Tuhý, they "demonstrably" increase crime rates. "Agencies" bring them in, make a profit, and, after workers lose their jobs, ...
Position paper on the proposed reform of the Common European Asylum System
Consortium of Migrants Assisting Organizations in the Czech Republic (Consortium) [1] has been closely following the proposals on the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) put forward by both the European Commission and the Council. This policy brief aims to summarize the Commission’s proposals published in the spring/summer 2016 in light of fur...
Czech Republic: General provider of integration services for next 3 years not found in open tender
No bidder has expressed interest in a 520-million-crown contract for providing integration services for foreigners in the Czech Republic. Migration and the EU Refugees in CEE IntegrationCzech Republicarticles
The newest proposal from the "European Values'" think tank is unrealistic and at odds with the law
The European Values (EH) think tank, as many politicians and actors in Czech society, has recently begun actively focusing on questions of migration. In the beginning of June 2016, EH published a policy paper titled A Sustainable Immigration and Asylum System in the EU. The following article is a response to EH’s proposal, in which two basic problems are highlighted: missing critical dat...
