Civic Dialogues
about the Integration of
Immigrants in Hungary
Corvinus University of Budapest
György Lengyel
Lilla Tóth
Borbála Göncz
European Migration Network – national meeting
Budapest, 8th December 2011
About the Research
•
•
Funded by the European Integration Fund
Corvinus University of Budapest, Institute of Sociology and
Social Policy
• Phases of the research (2009):
1. Representative survey (n=1009) and focus group
discussions
- How immigrants are perceived by the host society?
2. In-depth interviews
- Immigrants’ integration as seen by themselves and
experts
3. Civic discussions
– Recommendations of the members of the host society
and immigrants in the subjects of immigrants’ integration
4. Follow-up phase (2011)
- Evaluation of the recommendations by experts
Structure of the Presentation
• About the Civic Discussions
• How immigrants are perceived by the host
society?
• Immigrants’ integration as seen by themselves
and experts
• Recommendations of the Civic discussions
• Evaluation of the recommendations by experts
About the Civic Discussion
What is a Citizen’s Jury?
•
•
•
•
Well-informed citizen’s
participation to political
decision making process
(12-20 persons)
kutatás
research
Process of a jury with the
inclusion of experts
Deliberation on a (local or
national) problem/ topic
affecting the community
Choice between
alternatives
Tájékozeducation
tatás
Politikai
részvétel
political
participation
Civic Discussions on Immigrants’
Integration
• Discussion about the integration of immigrants,
recommendation for the political decision makers
»Immigrants: foreign citizens legally arriving
from a third country (non-EU) with the aim of
permanently residing in Hungary
• Innovative application of the method - two parallel
panels: host society members and immigrants (14-15
participants)
• Changes in attitudes of the host society members
• Inclusion of a „hidden” group into public policy
decision making
• Possibility of comparison of the two panels
How immigrants are perceived by the
host society?
1. Representative survey:
June 2009, N=1009
2. Focus group discussions (FGDs):
Budapest, 24th August 2009
Kaposvár, 31st August 2009
Location of the issue of migration
„How do you weight the following social problems waiting for
solution” (average, 0-10)
Unemployment (1005)
9.06
Corruption (994)
8.77
Crime (1004)
8.30
Protection of the environement (999)
7.88
Roma integration (984)
7.40
Integration of immigrants (913)
0.00
5.83
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
Opinions about migrants
Foreigners should learn our language and adjust to our traditions and
1.4
3.1 12.8
law s (1008)
Immigrants take jobs aw ay from people w ho w ere born in Hungary
2.66.1
(1007)
It should be easier for the immigrants of Hungarian ethnic origin to
3.27.5
attain Hungarian citizenship (1008)
40.8
20.4
37.1
33.8
17.5
39.5
32.2
Immigrants increase crime rates (1008) 5.2 9.1
Immigrants make Hungary more open to new ideas and cultures
5.1
(1006)
Immigrants are generally good for Hungary's economy (1008) 6.1
Don't know
41.9
28.3
17.9
21.7
41.8
35.1
15.6
34.9
45.9
7.1
22.6
3.7
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100
%
Disagree strongly
Disagree
Agree
Agree strongly
The openness of the Hungarian
society
According to the participants of the FGDs:
• There is no communication between immigrants and
the host society and nobody seems to initiate it
• The openness and acceptance is based on common
personal experiences and it is possible only for the
next generation because they grow up and are
educated together (practice supporting the idea of
assimilation)
• The openness towards certain immigrants groups is
influenced and shaped by cultural and ideological
fashion (the demand and supply in the spiritual,
ideological, philosophical market)
Immigrants’ integration as seen by
themselves and experts
Results of in-depth interviews
1. Experts: 13 interviews from the field of
law, employment, economy and
education
2. Immigrants: 17 half-structured
narrative interviews
The results of the expert interviews
• Hungary is not an attractive place for the immigrants (not a
target country)
• Few immigrants arrive, not a major problem, not an
important topic in the public discourse
• Despite the above, xenophobia is serious in Hungary
• The most important elements of integration: Hungarian
education background and wide network
• Civil organizations and educational institutions are the most
sucessful in supporting integration
Problems:
• Lack of consistent national migration strategy, therefore the
institutions cannot work in a concerted way
• Lack of elaborated policy creates uncertainty and sometimes
arbitrary administration
• More cooperation and discussion is needed with a clear
political position taken up in the case of immigration
Structural integration of
immigrants
• they are forced to manoeuvre to get official
papers and permissions;
• mediators exploiting the situation;
• diasporas -while support the individual- are also
an obstacle to integration into the host society
• In isolated situation: out of work, out of school
- getting good language command is hard,
there is no organized system for teaching
Hungarian as a foreign language for adults
• The labour market is often segmented
(migrants work together and are not in contact
with Hungarians)
Cultural and social integration of
immigrants
Cultural integration
• The integration process can often get stuck because
of the language isolation
• Women staying home in the household
• Multinational companies where working language is
English
Social integration
• Mixed marriages are not guarantee
• Overformality at workplaces
• Education: open and bridge-builder
• Neighbourhood, the immediate space: very open
Serbian man, has been living here
for 15 years
„They were very arrogant, they behaved as if
they had been patronizing me. Yet I don’t
believe that I live my life in Hungary. I can’t say
that a sole Hungarian would’ve helped me or
would’ve given me a hand. I acquainted with
couple of people at my workplace at the time
being in the studio, but I can say that they
behaved in a very cold manner towards me.
They regarded foreigners like vagrants. They
might have communicated with the English or
Swedish but we Serbians were regarded as
second class citizens.”
Civic Discussions about immigrants’
integration
The Theme and Process of the
Discussions
The topics discussed:
• The integration of the immigrants on the labour
market
• Integration from an administrative perspective –
administration and legal issues
• Cultural integration – education
The way it worked:
• Providing background information
• The event (October 2-4, 2009):
•Day 1: Identification of the problems, meeting
with experts, questions & answers, re-thinking the
problems
•Day 2: Elaboration of recommendations
About the Panel of the Host Society
(15 persons)
 Is it possible to discuss the subject
independently from the other problems of
Hungarian society?
 Familiarity with the topic of education, while the
labour market and legal perspectives are more
difficult to discuss
 Typical immigrant: the Chinese
 Integration of immigrants of Hungarian ethnic
origin is not perceived as problematic
 The general lack of information about the
subject is seen as an important problem
 To learn the Hungarian language is perceived to
be the main element of integration
About the Panel of Immigrants
(14 persons)
• Heterogeneous group selected based on the
composition of immigrants in Hungary
• 14 participants: 8 European, 3 Asian, 1 North
American, 1 South American and 1 African
• Both Hungarian and non-Hungarian ethnic
origins
• Different migration backgrounds and histories
• Question: group boundaries according to
cultural differences
About the Recommendations (1)
• Immigrants of Hungarian origin vs. „Chinese”
people
• Dominance of the topic of education
• Lack of information and the contacts between
different cultures
• Importance of the language
About the Recommendations (2)
Similarities between the 2 panels:
• The importance of the knowledge of the language
• The role of education should be strengthened: e.g.
multicultural classes
• There was a need to get to know the opinion of the
other panel
• The expressed need to use the method in other areas
Differences:
• More recommendations in the immigrant group (more
detailed recommendations – 13 vs. 44)
• Some topics (e.g. employment, legal issues) came up
only among the immigrants
Evaluation of the
Recommendations
• 2011: 4 experts (non-profit sector, Ministry of Interior
Affairs, Office of the Ombudsman, Office of
Immigration and Nationality)
• Divergent opinions: evaluation of immigrants’
integration in principle vs. legal context
• Who is the target of the recommendations? Who
would be in charge for implementation?
• Low number of immigrants from third countries
makes difficult the implementation of certain
recommendations
• Overall: recommendations are important and useful.
Further dissemination is important!
Evaluation of the Recommendations
- administration and legal issues
• Simplification of legal rules is not possible, but can be
aided by suitable communication
• Non-profit organizations are already included at the
development of new laws concerning immigration –
perception of the efficiency of the consultation process is
divergent
• Several recommendations have already been realized,
others are unaccomplishable (e.g.: online administration)
• The monopoly of the National Office for Translation and
Attestation should be ceased >> several experts agreed
• Remuneration of administrators based on their
performance is not feasible, personal administration is
problematic
Evaluation of the Recommendations
- education
• Per head quota after all children in public education >>
unanimous agreement
• Raising awareness in the frame of civic knowledge and
society class at school is perceived to be a good idea
• Recognition of foreign diplomas is complex and should be
handled together with the claims of Hungarian citizens
• Fostering language skills of immigrants is important,
although there is no agreement on the way to achieve
this
• Intercultural training of teachers, policemen and other
administrators is important (with existing examples!),
however, personal experiences remain the main defining
factor
Evaluation of the Recommendations
- labour market
• A web page with companies willing to employ
immigrants is unanimously rejected
• Reducing administrational burdens: depends on
EU regulation
Thank you for
your attention!