Rethinking European Union migration policy: case study of Ukraine - Статья

Анотація Івегеш Г.-М.В., магістр в галузі міжднародних відносин та європейських досліджень Центрально-європейський Університет, Угорщина Угорщина, Будапешт, 1051, Надор ул., 9 Е-mail: igannamaria@gmail.com Переосмислення політики імміграції ЄС: приклад України. Дослідження зосереджено на міграції українських громадян до Європейського Союзу у пошуку роботи. Introduction In theory the imperfections in the labor market of the European Union are solved by the forces of a single market - the excess or shortage of workers in one state can be fixed by opposite dynamics in another state. However, this equilibrium was offset by two events: firstly, by fall of the USSR which led to large labor immigration from less developed Soviet countries to more advanced European countries, and secondly, by Eastern enlarge­ment which brought into the Union politically and economically unprepared states. Thus the equilibrium mechanism is currently not working. Unmet demand for workers is often satisfied by immigrants from outside of the Union. As a result, security of external borders became an important issue for which considerable resources were allocated. The budget for those activities has been considerably increased, most noticeably in France, UK, Poland, Italy and Estonia [8]. Analysis of existing literature. Lately there have been a lot of developments in migration politics, as well as in migration literature. Frankie et al (2010) stated the need for ENP to focus on individual strategies and interests of partner-countries. It is indeed important to have a good understanding of particularities of each country to be able to develop an effective framework for cooperation. Kuzio (2000) in his paper pointed out a tendency to focus on Russia’s influence over Ukraine and failure to take into account Ukraine’s longer contact with and influence of its Western neighbors. This one-sided approach to Ukraine suggests that European Union policy makers might not have deep enough understanding of migration tendencies in order to be able to create the most effective and mutually convenient system. Mouhoud and Oudinet (2010) noted a rise in the number of skilled migrants who in order to maintain their status in working environment develop different mobility strategies (for example, repeat migration - when person travels to country A and from there goes to country B). In terms of emigration of Ukrainians to Poland, recent statistics outline an overall decline of migration and preference for temporary migration [5]. However, for those who want to move permanently and build their career, European and, in particular, Polish systems cannot offer a lot of options. In some cases marriages act as a link between temporary and settlement migration. Gorny and Kepinska (2004) refer to neo-classical economic model of migration - individual decision-making involves utility maximization - to outline that wage gap between Poland and USSR served as one of the reasons for emigration from Soviet states and later post-Soviet states. The choice of Poland as the country of destination could be explained by several points: geographical proximity, shared history, existing similarities between countries. Importantly, statistics provided by the authors show an increase in Polish-Ukrainian mar­riages between 1992 and 2001. Ukrainians tended to be younger and better educated, while Polish partners had higher income and better standards of living. These marriages are both decisions to create family and an opportunity to legally enter European Union. It is important to understand what kind of information migrants have about migration control and integration policies of receiving country. Anna Triandafyllidou (2008) discussed in her paper what information they receive and where they attain it from.