Immigration and Integration Policies in Poland: Institutional, Political and Social Perspectives
This chapter presents the immigration and integration policies in Poland in recent years in various aspects—institutional, political and social. It explores the issues of immigration to Poland, the situation of foreigners and immigrants, and their integra
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Immigration and Integration Policies in Poland: Institutional, Political and Social Perspectives Małgorzata Mol˛eda-Zdziech, Marta Pachocka, and Dominik Wach
10.1
Introduction1
The aim of this chapter is to present and discuss the immigration and integration policies in Poland, especially in recent years, in various aspects: institutional, political and social. The issues of immigration to Poland, the 1 This chapter was prepared as a result of research collaboration of co-authors within the framework of the project EUMIGRO—“Jean Monnet Module on the European Union and the Contemporary International Migration – an Interdisciplinary Approach” (project number: 575228-EPP-1-2016-1-PL-EPPJMO-MODULE; agreement/decision number: 2016–2187) carried out at the Collegium of Socio-Economics of SGH Warsaw School of Economics and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The chapter was submitted for publication at the turn of 2018 and 2019, and it presents the situation and data available at that time.
M. Mol˛eda-Zdziech (B) · M. Pachocka Department of Political Studies, Institute of International Studies, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2021 J. Franzke and J. M. Ruano de la Fuente (eds.), Local Integration of Migrants Policy, Palgrave Studies in Sub-National Governance, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50979-8_10
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situation of foreigners and immigrants, and their integration within Polish society are complex and multidimensional. This paper focuses on the integration activities and policies dedicated to foreigners, including those implemented by both central and local authorities as well as NGOs. The chapter opens with the migration situation in Poland as a starting point for reflections on immigration and integration policies after 1989 and their interrelation until 2018. Then, good practices and innovative solutions in local integration activities are presented. Next, the paper discusses considerations related to the political context of immigration and integration policies in Poland since 2015, in particular, the mediatisation of the issue of immigration, especially refugees in connection with the massmigration and refugee crisis, and consequently to triggering moral panic in Polish society. Continuing with this theme, the paper offers an overview of public attitudes to immigration, with the example of the acceptance of asylum seekers and refugees in Poland in 2015–2018, followed by conclusions.
10.2
Migration Situation in Poland
Poland has 38 million inhabitants. In recent years, it has been a net emigration country and this trend has intensified since 2004 when it was granted membership in the European Union (see Eurostat Database 2018b, d). According to estimates provided by the Central Statistical Office of Poland, around 2.5 million Polish residents were temporarily abroad (defined as more than 3 months) at the end of 2016, with the vast majority (2.1 million) in the other EU Member States. Among the
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