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The Janus-Faced Character of Migration Governance in CEE Countries

The migration patterns in post-socialist Central and East Europe countries were different when compared to old EU member states. During the period after WWII until 1990, those patterns involved primarily migration to and from other CEE countries (and the Soviet Union) that were part of the Soviet bloc. In former Yugoslavia, less oppressive regime, together with a high demand for workers in the Western European countries, opened a space for rather massive labour emigration during 1960s-1970s. After the collapse of previous regimes and during a transition period in the 1990s, CEE countries experienced an increase in immigration ; however, relatively small numbers of immigrants have been arriving from outside Europe. The topic of migration was marginal in public and political discourse. At the same time, under the EU accession requirements, those countries had to quickly develop migration policies and align their legislation with acquis communautaire on migration and border security. The migration governance was considered as an administrative issue, concentrated on the development of policy documents and legislation, as well as building administrative capacities for protection of (EU external) borders and development of asylum systems. The mass migrations in 2015 and 2016 have opened a new chapter regarding migration governance in CEE countries. Some of them, such as Visegrad countries, strongly opposed the EU initiatives in the area of migration and asylum which influenced their relations with EU institutions but also other member states. CEE countries have begun to consider migration only as an issue of security and matter of internal politics. As a result, public debate on refugees and migrants has hardened, very often apart from the objective reality of country’s exposure to the mass migrations. In some CEE countries that led to the advocating for the halting of immigration by conservative and populist political parties, and influenced the adherence to democratic values and standards. The paper aims to explore the relationship between the transition and Europeanization at one side and the development of migration governance on the other side in CEE countries, based on the path- dependency approach. The paper will focus on the question to what extent (post-)socialist factors influence national migration governance and policies which are at the same time governed by the EU regulatory framework. The analyses will include the overview of migration policy developments before and after the accession to the EU, building on the premises that the EU has been the main accelerator for development of migration policies in CEE countries. It will be argued whether the effectiveness of the transfer of values and norms relating to migration during the accession process has been replaced by ‘national turn’ after joining the EU.

migration, governance, CEE countries, transition

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