Naslov
Does the EU membership matter? The challenges of integration of South-East European professionals in Brussels

Autori
Gregurović, Snježana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Migration, Diversity and the City - 14th IMISCOE Annual Conference

Mjesto i datum
Rotterdam, Nizozemska, 28.06.2017. - 30.06.2017

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Podatak o recenziji nije dostupan

Ključne riječi
(im)migrant integration, EU membership, highly-skilled professionals, South-East Europe, multicultural environment, Brussels

Sažetak
This paper analyses how the multicultural and multilingual environment influence the prospects of integration among the professionals from South-East European countries in Brussels. After the EU enlargements of 2004, 2007 and 2013 a significant number of highly-skilled professionals from South-East Europe (SEE) moved to Brussels as a part of international/transnational labour mobility flows. Their inclusion in the host society has been shaped by its multilingual and multicultural character and by the effects of EU membership. Using Bosswick & Heckmann (2006) indicators of (im)migrant integration, a research question that will be firstly discussed is how the effects of EU membership affect different aspects of migrant integration (structural, cultural, interactive and identificational). Secondly, the paper also aims to describe whether transnational ties leading to more cultural autonomy or cultural hybrid identities (Clifford, 1994) The qualitative data materials were gathered through the research sample (20 respondents) including immigrants from Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania (as the EU member states) and Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo (as the non-EU member states) living in Brussels in the period October 2014 - December 2014. The research findings confirm that a multicultural, multilingual and cosmopolitan environment encourages the integration of highly skilled migrants in an 'international strata' and in the local environment, but not in Belgian (bi)national or regional communities. The results also suggest that the EU membership does affect the inclusion and integration of highly skilled professionals, but to the less extent than expected. Finally, research findings also reveal that transnational space is filled with multiple and overlapping networks that lead to more cultural hybrid identities than to cultural autonomy.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA