Poland wants its migrants to come home: president

Poland is planning new steps to try to tempt home some of its estimated 1.2 million citizens who have moved to other European Union nations, President Lech Kaczynski said Wednesday.

"Our main goal is to get as many of them as possible to come back to their homeland," Kaczynski told reporters after a meeting focusing on ways to reverse the huge wave of emigration the country has faced since it joined the bloc in 2004.

Polish authorities are particularly concerned about the demographic, social and economic impact in this country of 38.2 million people because the average age of current emigrants is 26.

The top destination for Poles is Britain, which was among three older EU member states, along with Sweden and Ireland, to open its doors immediately to workers from the eight former communist states, including Poland, that joined the EU three years ago.

Estimates for the number of Poles now living in Britain range from 300,000 to 600,000.

British studies have shown that 20 percent of Polish migrants there have no plans to go home, a similar proportion are considering settling permanently, and the remaining 60 percent are undecided.

"We need to convince as many as possible of that 60 percent that their place is in Poland," said Kaczynski.

Other west European EU members have also begun lifting their restrictions, providing further opportunities for would-be emigrants.

Labour Minister Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska said that a series of measures were in the pipeline to help smooth the way for Poles who want to come back, mostly related to the job market, family policy and education.

Among the new moves, she said, authorities plan to organise job fairs abroad to raise awareness of opportunities at home, as well as strengthen a network of Polish schools abroad in a move to ease the return of migrants with children.

Source: eubusiness.com