Kálmán, Judit

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Judit Kálmán: Public Policies...1172.7.1 Public policies encouraging return migration in EuropeJudit KálmánFollowing a brief international outlook, this pa-per takes stock of public policy interventions that respond to mobility flows within Europe and en-courage return migration. As motivations for migration and repatriation as well as the charac-teristics of migrants and returning migrants are diverse, the objectives and tools of goverment in-terventions intending to influence these processes also vary. Policy interventions concentrate mainly on the repatriation of highly qualified emigrants (brain regain) and aim to utilize the skills and ex-periences of returnees in promoting innovation-based economic development and competitive-ness. Return programmes can either be focusing on the labour market only or have an integrated approach, involving multiple public policy are-as. Table 2.7.1.1 summarises their main charac-teristics.Table 2.7.1.1: Main types and characteristics of public policy programmes promoting return migrationReintegration  (reactive intervention)Promotion of return  (active intervention)Policies for retention  of human capital (proactive)Target group Returned migrants Potential returnees Potential emigrantsRationale Minimizing social tensions and costs associated with returnMaximizing benefits of return migration (through the social-, economic-, demo-graphic- and financial capital of the returnee)Emigration prevention, loss minimisa-tionPurpose Reintegration of returnees into society Promotion of return migration and assis-tance with the processPrevention of (skilled) worker outmi-grationPlace Sending country Receiving country Sending countryTime After return Before/during return migration Before emigrationMethod Information services, job placement, men-toring, training, entrepreneurship support, reduction of administrative burdens, recognition of qualifications acquired abroad, housing allowances and other temporary financial assistanceTraining, support, consulting, practical information services (telephone, web-site), individual mentoring, PR-cam-paign, raising awareness of potential benefits of returning homeThrough education and development policies, economic policy – not via administrative barriersSource: Edited by author based on Kovács et al. (2014).Beyond diaspora policies, there are many success-ful, complex return migration-repatriation initia-tives in many countries around the world – for ex-ample in China, India and Taiwan (UNDP, 2007; Jonkers, 2008; Mészáros, 2010). Already in the 1960s, Taiwan and Korea tried to entice the re-turn of its highly educated citizens who had em-barked on international careers by offering excel-lent research opportunities, high salaries and other incentives. China has also been following this mod-el for some time, in addition to the government’s attempt to involve the diaspora community. For a long time India did not promote remittances at all, but nowadays it aims to encourage diaspora in-vestment and return of its emigrants through the reduction of bureaucracy, business-friendly poli-cies and by the liberalisation of exchange rates. At the same time Taiwan, concentrating on building relationships and promoting investments, created business and industrial parks, and sought to entice its researchers and engineers to return home with the lure of attractive jobs, as well as advanced in-frastructure, housing, and schools (OECD, 2008). A number of other countries – for example, some South American and African countries – have long operated similar scholarship programmes and gov-ernment programmes encouraging the return of their highly qualified citizens.in Focus: international migration118In comparison with these Asian and Latin Ameri-can countries, Eastern European countries discov-ered the economic possibilities of return migration policies relatively late and utilised the potential of brain regain programmes to a lesser extent. Several migrant return initiatives have been launched in Central and Eastern Europe, including Hungary (Table 2.7.1.2). The majority of the programmes be-gan 4–5 years following EU accession (Kaczmarc-zyk, 2013), even though in many of the affected countries massive outmigration had started years before.1 This is all the more surprising as such pro-grammes can be co-financed by the EU (European Return Fund, Cohesion Policy).21 Because they are relatively recent, but also for the ab-sence of proper outcome indicators, it is not yet pos-sible to measure their long-term impacts.2 One of the reasons for this is the conflict between goals, principles and instruments at different levels of government. At the EU level, the free movement of labour is one of the main pillars of the common mar-ket, as well as a common economic interest, while at the level of Member States this mobility has a range of negative consequences presented earlier, which might also differ across Member States.Table 2.7.1.2: Return, reintegration, and retention initiatives in Eastern EuropeName Country Programme type Main objective Duration Instruments/OutcomesGuidance and Counselling for Migrants and Re-turneesTransnational (6 EU Member States)Re-employment, reintegrationConsulting, know-how and exchange of experience for returnees2009–2011Re-migration toolkit, online library creation, surveys. Seven meetings in the partner countriesPovroty.gov.pl ProgrammePoland Reintegration, Re-employmentInformation provision, assistance with reintegra-tion for Poles living abroad (primarily in the United Kingdom) with an intention of returning home2008– Website, Reintegration and re-employment of returnees, job placement, incentives for be-coming entrepreneurs, tax incentives, reduc-tion of bureaucratic restrictions. Combined withPolish Employment Service job recruitment portal since July 2011“Masz PLan na powrót?” [Do you have a plan for return?]Poland reintegration Provision of information for Poles abroad intending to return2008– Website, information campaign, job brokerage, promoting business start-up, tax breaks (!), elimination of bureaucratic barriers (recogni-tion of qualifications, one-stop-shop adminis-tration, elimination of dual taxation), support for the reintegration of children – national programme, jointly coordinated by various government departmentsHoming Plus Pro-gramPoland Encouraging return, re-em-ployment, reinte-grationSupporting the return of young Polish researchers (as well as doctoral stu-dents)2010– Max.80 thousand Polish zloty (cc.18500 EUR) research grant/year, 5,000 zloty (cc. 1170 EUR) monthly pay for researchers.„Zostań w Polsce – swoim szefem!” (Be your own boss – stay in Poland!)Poland – re-gional pro-grammeEncouraging returnSupporting business start-up, self-employment of returnees2010– Warsaw (Mazowie region) –training, business plan preparation, 6-month financial incubation support: target group – primarily those aged over 45 years, women, and people being re-turned due to unemployment.Wracajdopolski.pl  [ReturntoPoland.pl]Poland RegionalPromotion of returnEncouraging the return of highly qualified Polish migrants (mainly from the UK)2007–2011Polish and British Chamber of CommerceJudit Kálmán: Public Policies...119Name Country Programme type Main objective Duration Instruments/Outcomes“Return support” Estonia Promotion of return, reintegra-tionFinancial assistance for Estonians returning from abroad after more than 10 years2004 Up to 2,000EUR/person, very few people quali-fy due to strict eligibility criteria (36–242 people/year) – criteria: more than 10 years spent abroad, retained links, official registra-tion.“Talents back Home”Estonia Promotion of return, re-em-ploymentInformation service for young Estonians (students) living abroad intending to return home2010–2012Job brokerage, information campaign, website – operated by the Estonian Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, funded by the EU (ESF), following a successful campaign only 27 peo-ple returned home in the programme.MEDIT Romania Promotion of return, re-em-ploymentInformation provision for Romanians living in Italy with the intention of return-ing home2009–2011Romanian Employment Service in partnership with the Italian counterpart, funded by the EU (ESF), information services, job brokerageRomanian Office for Romanians Living AbroadRomania Diaspora policy, maintaining linksPreserving the identity of Romanians living abroad, links with the mother country1995– Language courses, Romanian school classes abroad, financial assistance for diaspora communitiesOpening up oppor-tunities for Re-turned Georgian MigrantsCzech Republic, GeorgiaReintegration, re-employmentSupporting return of Geor-gian migrants2003– Creation of an employment service and job brokerage centre in Tbilisi, assistance, infor-mation campaign in the Czech RepublicMigracia SK Slovakia Return, retention Creation of policies to reduce “brain drain”, awareness raising2009– Website, organising the “Day of Slovaks Abroad” and conference, building relationships with Slovak organisations abroad“Slovensko Calling” Slovakia Return, reinte-gration, re-em-ploymentInformation for Slovaks living abroad, encouraging return and re-employment2009– Job search website, media campaign, public debates, activities abroad, publication of a Guide for returning Slovaks.Hungarian Academy of Science Momen-tum (Lendület) ProgrammeHungary Return, re-em-ployment, reten-tionEncouraging the return and retention of outstanding Hungarian researchers and young talent from abroad, as well as attracting young researchers from abroad2009– Funding for researchers and research groups, initiation of quality research infrastructure in Hungary. 100+ research projects received funding prior to 2015, increasing resources – currently 400 mn HUF ( 1.3 mn EUR)/year budgetSROP Albert Szent-Györgyi Repatriation Schol-arshipHungary Return, re-em-ployment, reten-tionEncouraging the return of talented Hungarian re-searchers in the areas of natural, technical and life sciences, as well as math-ematics2013–2014Funding of research centres and research groups for more experienced researchers.Markusovszky Scholarship (Károly Than scholarship)Hungary Retention Preventing the emigration of doctors and pharmacists2011– Gradually increasing resources (840 mn HUF – 2.73 mn EUR budget in 2016), fellowships for graduated resident specialists and pharma-cists, a net grant of 100 thousand HUF – 325 EUR per month, eligibility criteria apply.“Come Home Youth”Hungary Return, reinte-gration, re-em-ploymentEncouraging the return of young Hungarians working in the United Kingdom2015 100 mn HUF – 0.325 mn EUR, complex pro-gramme, website, telephone hotline, informa-tion campaign, counselling, training, job bro-kerage, housing assistanceSource: Edited by the author on the basis of Lados–Hegedüs (2012), p. 517, Kaczmarczyk (2013), Kaska (2013), OECD (2013).in Focus: international migration120These initiatives have diverse objectives3 and target groups but for the most part they encour-age the return of researchers, doctors, i.e. generally highly skilled individuals. However, they remain to be quite fragmented, have a strong labour market focus, and are less coordinated with other public policies. Thus, comprehensive, complex and well-resourced initiatives for return migration (perhaps with the exception of the Polish ‘Masz Plan na pow-rót’ complex programme) are still missing in Cen-tral and Eastern Europe. Regarding the territorial focus of these programmes, the majority of them focus on a single country while there are relative-ly few projects that cover two or more states,4 and there are hardly any EU-wide programmes (except the Marie Curie Programme). However, without the coordination of these interventions and their harmonisation with EU policies the true single Eu-ropean labour market cannot exist, even though that is an aim for increased EU competitiveness.Unfortunately, information available to evalu-ate the effectiveness and efficiency of these pro-grammes is rather unreliable. The raw figures on the number of returnees, which are often reported, do not reveal the effectiveness of the programmes because they lack either natural or artificial com-parison (which would tell us what would have hap-pened in the absence of the programme). We are not aware of any rigorous, scientific evaluations on return migration policies in the region – although apart from the lack of data, the rather short time since these were launched in Central and Eastern Europe must also be noted.However, the available figures suggest that the impact of Eastern European return migration pol-icies remains, for the time being, rather marginal; these programmes can encourage the return, or pre-vent the emigration of, only a very small minori-ty of skilled young adults (Barcevicius et al., 2012, OECD, 2013).5 The effectiveness of these policy in-terventions is largely dependent on the general eco-nomic and social situation in the mother country,6 the characteristics of migrants and the migration pattern7 – reliable information and data on which is still very limited or missing. As member states have conflicting interests both with each other and with the European Economic Area, the EU-level coor-dination of these policies is imperative and should also take the perspective of the economic compteti-tiveness of Europe into account. The creation of the common European Migration Policy has been over-due since the 2009 Lisbon summit, even though it would be important not only from current security policy perspectives but also to facilitate the better management of intra-EU mobility processes and their consequences.3 Poland and Latvia launched these policies due to the labour market losses caused by massive outmigration, while Romania started trying to control the extent of emigration as a result of pressure from receiving coun-try governments.4 Examples for the latter are the bilateral “Opening Up Opportunities” Czech Republic – Georgia project, and the “Guidance and Counselling for Migrants and Re-turnees” transnational project implemented by Slova-kia and the Czech Republic.5 For example see Chapter 2.4 and Varga (2016) on the in-crease in the migration of Hungarian doctors after 2010.6 To prevent emigration and facilitate remigration, the key issues in the sending countries would be general economic growth, social progress and the creation of a business-friendly environment. In Eastern Europe, in particular the reduction of the tax burden on employ-ment related income,diminishing inactivity percent-agesthe reduction of red tape and bureaucracy, i.e.the creation of a business- and investment-friendly envi-ronment would be important.7 The case of Latvia illustrates that the emigration propensity of the highly skilled increases at times of economic decline and these people often do not wish to return. Therefore, it is not only difficult to encour-age return migration, but also remittances as well as the extent of human capital transfer – one of the often cited positive effects of migration – are somewhat also uncertain. However, in Poland for example the return rate is relatively high, but returnees are more likely to become unemployed than those who stayed at home, which again does not constitute proper human capital transfer. Using data from Poland, Latvia, Hungary, and Romania Barcevicius et al. (2012) have found that foreign work experience was an advantage mainly for the highly educated following return. This highlights the importance of more detailed data on specific mi-gration patterns (OECD, 2013).Judit Kálmán: Public Policies...121ReferencesBarcevicius, E.–Igliczka, K.–Repeckaite, D.–Zvalionyte, D. (2012): Labour mobility within the EU: The impact of return migration. Eurofound, Dublin.Kaczmarczyk, P. (2013): Matching the skills of re-turn migrants to labour market needs in Poland. In: OECD (2013) pp. 111–126.Kaska, V. (2013): Emigration from Estonia: Recent trends and economic impact. In: OECD (2013) pp. 31–46.Kovács, Z.–Boros, L.–Hegedűs, G.–Lados, G. (2014): Transnational Strategy for re-attracting and re-in-tegrating migrants. Re-Turn Consortium, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography.Lados, G.–Hegedűs, G. (2012): A re-migráció európai és hazai lehetőségeinek értékelése a munkaerőpi-ac szempontjából. (The evaluation of the European and national opportunities of re-migration from a labour market perspective.) In: Kockázat – Konf-liktus – Kihívás. [Risk – Conflict – Challenge]. 6th Hungarian Geography Conference, Szeged, Septem-ber 5–7, pp. 509–523.Mészáros, R. (2010): Az információ, az oktatás, a kuta-tás és a fejlesztés. (Information, education, research, and development.) In: Mészáros, R. (ed.): A globális gazdaság földrajzi dimenziói. (Th e geographical di-mensions of the global economy). Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, pp. 326–327.OECD (2008): International Migration Outlook, 2008. Part III. OECD, Paris.OECD (2013): Coping with Emigration in Baltic and East European Countries. OECD, Paris.UNDP (2007): Case Evidence on ‘BrainGain’. A UNDP Capacity Development Resource. UNDP, No. 1.Varga, J. (2016): Hova lettek az orvosok? Az orvosok külföldre vándorlása és pályaelhagyása Magyaror-szágon, 2003–2011. (Where have all the doctors gone? The migration and career change of doctors in Hungary, 2003–2011). Közgazdasági Szemle, Vol. 63. No. 1. pp. 1–26.

Public policies encouraging return migration in Europe

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