Following the political transformations in
Central and
At
the end of eighties, beginning of nineties, 80% of the immigrants came from
The
largest proportion (an estimated 95%) of definitive migrants from
By
contrast, ethnic Romanians are predominantly looking towards western countries
as preferred target area. This is not surprising at all, taking into account
that in
Given
the minority situation of Hungarians living in
What
is characteristic for the migrant
type of work engagement is the effort to achieve a long- term adaptation to the
values and cultural norms of the host country. By contrast, in the attitudes of
non-migrant type laborers, a marked
separation between the country of work and the country of habitation can be
observed. To this category of migrants, the host country means little more than
an opportunity to work and earn money for living and improving life standards in their home countries and regions. To
temporary and seasonal migrants the deeply internalized necessity of long term
adaptation to the social and cultural norms of their home regions take
precedence over the practical need to temporarily adapt to the set of norms and
expectations of the host society.
Labor
migration involving resettlement should be seen not just as a step of
territorial mobility, but also as a process, taking into account the time
variable. In some cases the intention to emigrate acts as the primary moving
force, while other times the opportunity to work and earn money constitutes the
most important motivating factor. The intention of temporary resettling people
to remain definitively in their host country can be there from the very
beginning, or might occur later. Sometime such intentions do materialize, other
times not. Or, by contrast, the intention to definitively resettle may
subsequently vanish.
Labor
migrants might convert their status in definitive migration, come back
definitively to their country of origin or adopt a commuting way of life. That
is why not just one step, but the whole mobility path of individuals engaged in
the process needs to be studied. For part of the
migrants, especially for those having already their own families back at home,
the final decision to settle up in
Often, the initial intention of guest workers is to come back home
after several years.. However, with the passing of years many of them are
getting accustomed with the higher income, and it becomes much harder for them
to relinquish the already achieved life standards by choosing to return home.
Their preoccupations are switching now to the opposite direction: they are not
planning any more how to move back to their home country, but how to bring over
the family members to
To
Hungarian policy makers, the issue of ethnic Hungarian immigration, including
labor migration from the neighbor countries, is raising serious concerns. One
side of the problem is a matter of harmonization with the European legislation,
namely to what extent can receive ethnic Hungarian arrivers a special
preferential treatment compared to other immigrants in the conditions of the
necessity of adaptation to the European Union legislation in this field. The
second, and perhaps even more complex, question is to what extent such
preferential treatment is desirable from the perspective of Hungarian national
interest.
There
is an extremely delicate balance between the degree of offering support from
ethnic Hungarian immigrants and the need to prevent their en mass emigration from the lands they inhabited for centuries.
While the flows of Hungarian ethnic immigrants into Hungary is demographically
beneficial, a too large number of newcomers competing with Hungarian citizens
for the same working opportunities and needing the same range of social benefits
is likely to produce social and political tensions.
Nevertheless,
the number of work permits issued by the Hungarian governments increased
constantly but slowly: 21 401 in 1998, 23 486 in 1999, 30 638 in 2000. In 2002
it reached the level of 81 000. This reflects the growing need for foreign
labor and a stronger pressure from the side of enterprises to which
decision-makers had to react, but in the same time the preoccupation of the
government to protect the employment and wages of Hungarian citizens. Compared
to the size of the occupied population, the proportion of foreigners active in
Hungary with work permits remains at very low level (in 1998 only half percent
of the total number of employees). The number of legally employed foreign
citizens, remains at low level (only 3-5%) even if compared with the number of
unemployed.
Not
by chance, about half of the foreigners working legally are Romanian citizens.
In 2001 the Hungarian Consular Office in Cluj issued 18 500 visa. Out of these,
80% are for work, 10% for study and the remaining 10% for entrepreneurs and for
private visits. The number of work visas issued increased from 11000 in 2000 to
16 000 in 2001[1],
which denotes a growing demand of skilled labor supply from
This
phenomenon originates in the fact that after 1989
With
the collapse of the communist economic system, many of these workers lost their
jobs or quitted due to the low standard of wages. In the same period,
However,
the need for Romanian skilled workers was higher than the increase in the
number of work permits that the government assumed the risk to issue each year.
Granting of work permits for foreigners has been throughout this period a
sensitive subject, which could raise fears and negative reactions from
Hungarian citizens worried about the consequences of “unfair competition of
foreigners ” for their jobs and wages. In such social context the emergence of
new needs in the labor market could not be translated immediately in a
political decision of the same amplitude to allow more foreign workers in.
That
is why many professionally highly qualified labor migrants coming to work to
The
possessors of work permits are, in the overwhelming majority of cases, either
highly qualified specialists in fields where their special expertise is needed
(such as computing) or in professional fields where there is an obviously
insufficient number of Hungarian citizen candidates for the job (e.g. nursing).
Due to the existence of a strong demand for their skills, legally employed
workers are also the best candidates for definitive resettlement. This does not
mean, however, that they are necessarily using the opportunity of working
abroad in order to prepare the ground for obtaining permanent residence and
citizenship. Earning money to raise their life standards in their home country
or for starting a business of their own can also provide a strong motivation
for working in
While
the two concerned countries have developed several bilateral cross border cooperation initiatives, these are barely
touching the issue of labor migration. In this field government policies are
designed and implemented under the pressure of ad hoc situations and interests.
What is particularly missing is the co-ordination of development projects into
a unitary strategy at regional level. There is a lack of coordination between
the legal framework and policies of
In
Hungarian
local authorities from the border region are interested to preserve the border
crossing formalities, as these provide large employment opportunities for local
inhabitants. By contrast, the local authorities in the Romanian side of the
border are primarily interested to reduce those formalities, in order to create
favorable conditions for attracting foreign capital to their localities. In the
same time, they tend to support the option of their inhabitants for cross
border employment as a mean to ease social problems in their communities.
Regional employment authorities in
On
the Romanian an side of the border there is a strong regional interest to
regulate foreign labor so as to prevent definitive emigration to
However,
private agencies have to function in conditions of undeclared official
suspicion that they are facilitating illegal work abroad. Central authorities insist in their efforts
to preserve complete control over labor mediation. Their main argument in doing
so it is to protect potential guest workers from the abuse of employers and
employment mediating agencies and to ensure that legal norms and inter-state
agreements concerning foreign labor are being enforced. Beyond the political
rhetoric combining populist and legalist motives, however, the governmental
reasons behind this attitude can be explained by other factors. These are the
strong centralist political tradition of the country, the interests linked to
the central power, and the perception of cross border labor as a delicate
political issue which might affect Hungarian-Romanian relations. In addition,
the new adoption of the law also denotes the effort of the Romanian
power-holders to improve their image both in the country (as protectors of the
rights of Romanian workers abroad) and internationally (as defenders of legality
in the labor mediation system).
In
line with these preoccupations, Government Resolution nr.53/2002 has been
enacted, to modify Law nr.156/2000 concerning "the protection of Romanian
citizens working abroad." Art. 5 of the new regulation stipulates that
private labor mediation agencies, including local subsidiaries of foreign
companies, can be active in the field of placing Romanian employees in other
countries only if the following five conditions are fulfilled: they shall have
the necessary office space and facilities; shall employ qualified personnel
with experience in the field of labor force; shall set up a database of job
offers and demands, including data concerning the qualifications of job
applicants; shall negotiate contractual agreements, including firm job offers,
with the foreign employers; shall register with their regional employment authority.[3]
All such agencies need to undertake a process of accreditation in order to be
able to function legally.
Beyond
this new regulation, the Romanian Ministry of Labor also took the initiative to
act as an official mediator of jobs, particularly in relation to the countries
of the European Union. Periodically, job offers from the European Union
countries, are publicly announced by the Ministry, and applicants invited to
submit their requests. As usually competition for these places is extremely
high, the centralization of the distribution system undoubtedly created a new
potential source of corruption. This centralizing approach of the Romanian
authorities reflects in fact the peculiarities of the institutional and legal
system of the country, which leaves a rather small space of autonomous action
to the local communities. Any regional initiatives (such as the setting up of
micro-regions, associations or other forms of partnerships between localities)
still need to be approved by the central government in order to function
legally. Indeed, in the absence of local autonomy it is difficult to think
about the possibility to harmonize labor market policies of local communities
at the different sides of the border.
One
important category of unresolved problems where the concerned governments are
lacking a coordinated strategy is concerning the social security issues
connected with cross-border labor. The guest workers of
The
new regulations enacted by the Romanian authorities do not make much easier for
guest workers to escape this dilemma. In order to benefit from the services of
the Romanian social security system, guest workers employed abroad on the basis
of legal contracts must pay social security contributions to the
The
situation of illegal workers is obviously even more precarious, as they usually
do not posses social safety and health insurance at all. As far as health care
is concerned, the only solution is to take advantage of the emergency medical
assistance, which in
Hungarian
employers are interested in a favorable legislation on guest work in order to
be able to select and attract the best workforce from
On
the other hand, there are visible signs of "coalitions" between
employers and authorities as far as the acceptance (or rather, the toleration)
of illegal foreign workers is concerned. Officially, of course, representatives
of self-governments are acting on behalf of the interests of local employees.
Their economic and even political interests are, however, linked more to those
of employers, who are quite influential in the local political scene. In the same time, there is a silent
recognition of the fact that illegal labor needs to be tolerated within certain
limits as an essential component of local economies and social safety. That is why the existence of the phenomenon
is often simply ignored. Illegal guest workers do not appear in any official
evidence at local level. Local officials
tend not to reply to outside inquiries concerning the amplitude and
characteristics of cross border illegal labor.
Cross
border labor has become an important subject of the Hungarian and Romanian
political agenda after the adoption of the Status Law and particularly of the
Hungarian-Romanian Agreement concerning its implementation. The law adopted in
2001 by the Hungarian Parliament aimed at offering the possibility for ethnic
Hungarians living in the neighbor countries to work in
After
the Romanian-Hungarian agreement was signed, the issue of “Hungarian national
interest” interpreted as the need to protect citizens of
Those
who contested the relevant provisions of the Hungarian-Romanian declaration
argued that by making possible to all Romanian citizens to work three months in
Hungary, an ‘invasion” of Romanian migrant workers to Hungary has become
imminent. They warned that cheep Romanian workforce would eliminate unemployed
Hungarian citizens from the seasonal labor market, which provided so far an
important source of living to them. In addition, they argued that as the result
of the social and health needs of the newcomers, the budget was going to be
subjected to unbearable pressures, which will lead to economic and political
crisis. To bring more persuasion to the argument, a local and regional focus
was added. It was presumed that the main target areas of Romanian migrant
workers would be the less developed regions of
The
criticism of opposition parties, which was supported by important trade unions
and accompanied by a large media campaign, had a strong impact on population
views. According to the results of an opinion poll conducted by
In
an effort to minimize the negative electoral effects of these attacks, the
Government tried to assure the population that such fears are not based on
facts. In the official view of that time, opening up the labor market for
foreign working hands, while in accordance with the interests of Hungarian
employers, does not represent a threat to local employees. On the contrary, it
would attenuate the shortage of workforce in certain key sectors of economy;
thus contributing to economic developed and through this, to social welfare.
Instead of being a burden to the budget of social security, according to the
governmental argumentation, foreign employment will provide the budget with
more resources, due to the taxes foreign employees will pay. Even in short
term, there will be no any negative consequences whatsoever for the population
of
Another
important issue raised refers to the relationship between short term-work and
emigration. After the adoption of the Status Law, Hungarian intellectuals and
minority leaders from
The
causes of this phenomenon are various. To most qualified workers who have permanent jobs in their home country it
is too difficult to obtain three months leave from their home jobs and too
risky to abandon their job for the sake of three months work in
There
are basically two categories, which make an exception from this rule. The first
category consists of those high level professionals, who are specifically
needed in
Nevertheless,
Hungarian minority leaders from
Finally,
the third important issue of debate, which also had a significant dimension
affecting inter-state relations between
Subsequently
it turned out, however, that establishing such a committee had more a symbolic
and rhetorical rather than practical significance. When Hungarian officials stated
that it would continue to remain difficult for ethnic Romanians to find a job
in
The
position of Hungarian Government on the issue of applying or not ethnic
criteria in hiring labor force from
The
political debate ensuing after the adoption of the Hungarian-Romanian
declaration produced a rather curious reversal of the traditional political
positions and ideological outlooks of the respective parties. The government
party FIDESZ, which in the past few years strongly emphasized a cultural,
rather than political vision of the Hungarian nation, this time made a step
back, allowing the very same rights for employment to all citizens of
As
an alternative both to government and opposition views, the idea emerged that regional,
rather than ethnic criteria should be applied in considering applications for
guest worker employment in
There
are some strong arguments in favor of such a regulatory system. First, it would
encourage cross-border regional development by strengthening the links between
employers, employees and authorities in the region both in terms of day to day
contacts and at symbolic level. Second, the regional criteria are more
acceptable for the European Union and therefore policies based on these have
better chances of implementation. Finally, by avoiding preferential treatment
on ethnic ground it would probably attenuate ethnic tensions within the border
region and would ease Hungarian-Romanian interstate relations.
On
the other hand, however, the disadvantages of region based regulations
concerning foreign employment are also obvious: while abandoning ethnic
criteria, in the same time it would introduce a new discriminatory principle
and would put regions outside the Hungarian-Romanian border area in a
unfavorable position. More importantly, it would lead to the marginality of the
Secklerland, a region inhabited by a
homogenous ethnic Hungarian population, but situated in central
With
the enlargement of EU in 2004 became a member, while
From the perspective of advancing
European integration process, the existence of the appropriate legislative
framework, economic and social policies aimed at ensuring the three movement of
persons, labour, material and spiritual goods across the borders is of utmost
importance. This is essential also for securing the human rights of migrants in
accordance with international and European Union standards.
[1] Szatmári Friss Újság
[2] Statement by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Népszabadság,
[3] http://www.agenda.ro/2002/34-02-4.htm
[4] http://www.agenda.ro/2002/34-02-4.htm
[5] Szatmári Friss Újság,
[6] Statement by Hungarian Economy Minister, György Matolcsy,
Népszabadság,
[7] http://www.psd.ro/presa/confdepresa/200205/conf-020528-psd-dancu-gusa.htm
[8] interview with Zsolt Szilagyi, Member of Romanian Parliament
representing