Managing migration: a new European Strategy for Ukraine and Moldova

              The phenomenon of migration as a positive or negative process is debatable, but in the case of a Moldovan migrant working in Israel it is definitely positive: with the money saved from legal work, caring for the elderly, she managed to buy an apartment in the outskirts of Chisinau (capital of Moldova) and what is important - is planning on legal re-employment abroad. As we see from the video, the European Union has undertaken certain important initiatives in the region, by establishing organizations which help returned work migrants find legal work in Moldova as well as EUBAM, a fully funded by the EU mission with headquarters in Odessa (Ukraine) which works on the Moldovan and Ukrainian border an advisory and technical body and aims to work with Moldova and Ukraine to harmonise their border management standards and procedures with those prevalent in EU member states and promote of cross-border cooperation in the framework of the European Nrighbourhood and Partnership Initiatives.

 

Despite the EU initiative of organizing an office for employment of the returnees, I believe that it will not give high results, as the majority of Moldovans of working age will prefer higher salaries abroad rather than employment at home with very limited financial opportunities.  

 

The issue that Europe has been worried about recently is ageing crisis and thus it is clear that these are the immigrants who are to make up for the demographic decrease (see the video on Migration, Immigration and ageing crisis in Europe, 19/03). In this respect, on the one hand, immigrants help European population grow and on the other hand Europe achieves relatively cheap labour power which contributes to its economic development. In this way, the case of two Moldovan students from the video who are studying in Brussels is curious: the young girl states that the investments which she makes into her education abroad will help her find decent work in Chisinau. The fact that a Moldovan student doesn’t consider finding ways to stay in Belgium sounds encouraging, as her native country is in need for young professionals to boost the country`s development. On the other hand, unfortunately, personally I have strong doubts that her dreams will come true and, after having got used to civilized environment, she will be eager to return to the dull environment of poverty and misery of Moldova, and thus most probably will become one of the many legal or illegal migrants in Europe.