Original scientific paper
Europe, Integration and (Yugoslav) Migration
Milan Mesić
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Emil Heršak
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The paper begins by claiming that Europe as we know it today was formed in the Middle Ages in the wake of intense migration. In this context the territory of Yugoslavia was specific, since only here did a new ethnocultural superstratum prevail over the Romanised substratum so as to form a distinct amalgam that for centuries did not belong either to the West or the East. Furthermore, the authors show that the concept of Europe and Europeanism developed due to migration and comparison with foreign cultures, yet that it gradually came to be confined to the western part of the continent. The authors continue on to examine the development of concrete forms of (West) European integration in the 20th century – especially the EEC – and then give a review of migration trends in post-war Europe and in the European Community. From this review it can be deduced that – despite the creation of a common EEC labour market – the proportion of ‟internal” migrants in the EEC fell, while the number and proportion of migrants from so called ‟third” countries increased. This process began in the economically expansive years before 1973, but has since continued due to reunions of migrant families in host countries, natural growth of migrant populations, clandestine migration and refugee flows. The largest absolute and relative increase was registered in regard to the Turkish migrant population, but also among other groups of migrants from Africa and Asia. On the other hand, the Yugoslav migrant population in the EEC fell and then stagnated since the mid-1970s, so that at present it numbers a little over 700,000. The authors, however, estimate that today – at a time of serious economic and socio-political crisis in the country – Yugoslavia’s migration potential could amount to as much as two million people. At the end of the paper the authors present three possible scenarios for Yugoslav migration, which they base on an evaluation of the future position of Yugoslavia (and its socio-economic system) in the process of European integration.
Keywords
Europe; integration; migration; European Community; Yugoslavia
Hrčak ID:
127981
URI
Publication date:
28.4.1989.
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