Holland becomes migration hit with Poles?

According to figures released from the Polish Embassy in Holland, in 2007 there were 20,000 Poles there, although that number now stands at around 170,000.

The sharp increase is due to the country opening the job market for Polish citizens in 2007, while previously Poles would have to gain a permit, usually directly from Dutch employers.

The number of Poles in Holland has prompted a number of factories there to use Polish as a basic language of communication, with signs written in the language as well as the hiring of Polish managerial staff.

Meanwhile, Polish emigration to Germany since it opened its job market on 1 May has been less than expected, with only a 4 percent hike in economic migration noted since that date.

Migration against all odds?

The heightened number of Polish migrants in Holland has prompted the Dutch government to review its immigration policy.

In May, proposed regulation aimed at stopping a wave of economic migrants to the Netherlands was discussed by the head of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barosso and Dutch authorities.

Talks in The Hague mainly concerned immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, especially Poles, who constitute the largest group in the country since EU enlargement in 2004.

“We are against discrimination against any European citizens and [the EC] has already shown that we are defending that principle in a very consistent way,” Barosso said at the meeting last month. (jb)

Source: IAR/Dziennik Gazeta Prawna