Intra-EU Migration & Poland

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim, language: English, abstract: Though, there has been migration since the beginning of human life and migration within Europe is nothing new, the quantitative degree and even the reasons for migration within Europe have changed. One reason for that is the right of free movement within the EU, which was used by a total of 11.8 million people in 2016. However, the public debate on migration in Europe is primarily focusing on international migration from non-member states. In recent years this was dominated by the topic of the refugee crisis, which led to less attention for intra-EU migration. Nevertheless, intra-EU migration is a main cause for the high number of new immigrants, at least for Germany and the UK. In Germany, it has increased noticeable in recent years, while migration from non-EU countries has decreased. One of the most represented foreign communities in receiving countries are often Poles. Back in 2017 for example, Germany had more immigrants coming from Poland than ever before. The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and the connected freedom to work in other EU countries was one of the most important stimuli for emigration in Poland´s latest history. Even before the EU, there were high numbers of emigrants leaving. But the accession greatly enhanced migration, leading Poland to be one of the largest emigration countries within the EU. Even though the peak of emigration was reached in 2007 with about 1.8 million migrants, there are still many Poles going abroad to live and work there. In 2015 alone 123 thousand people have left Poland. Nevertheless, the Polish economy is one of the fastest growing among EU countries and its unemployment is reducing, too. In fact, Poland was the only country in the EU, which has avoided recession the years after the financial crisis in 2009. These issues lead to the question of the effects of mass intra-EU migration for Poland´s economy as a major sending country and the impacts on Poles, both, those staying in Poland and those who are living abroad. Also, it is interesting to know why so many Poles have left or want to leave Poland. To answer this question, this seminar paper will in the first part give the required fundamentals of intra-EU migration and following that, will assess the effects, risks and chances for the sending country Poland and its citi-zens. After giving an insight into government activities concerning Poles abroad, the seminar paper gives a conclusion on the impact of intra-EU migration for Poland and its citizens.