International migration and mobility of the EU citizens in the Visegrad group countries: comparison and bilateral flows

Eva Kacerova, University of Economics , Prague (VSE)

Migration between countries is a historically long-term phenomenon which is affected by economic, social, demographic and other influences and which can have different social consequences – it may lead to development, but also stagnation and recession. Its existence is influenced by a number of factors. The impulse to migrate can be due to personal, natural climatic, social, political or economic reasons.In May 2004 the four Visegrad Group countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, entered (among others) the European Union and they have become a part of the single internal market with four freedoms such as free movement of goods, services, capital and people. The movement of people between the new and old EU Member States has been a very important topic of many research studies as well as it has become a hot political issue and remained with partial restrictions of a free movement of workers until today. We have found out that the Czech and Slovak Republics are also significantly interconnected with labour migration. There is also relation between Slovakia and Hungary with regard to labour force. The migration relations between the Czech and Slovak republics are stronger than the trade flows although both countries are relatively more integrated in the regional trade than Hungary and Poland. For the latter countries it is typical that if they are integrated in regional economy they are more likely trade than migration flows. Poland is an important labour exporter but these workers are mainly active in the old EU member states. The strong Czech and Slovak regional participation can be explained mainly by their strong bilateral economic ties.