Ethnic Minorities and Majorities in Europe.

Migration and
Integration
POLGÁR István*

One of the great challenges of contemporary Europe is related to migration and

the need for European integration of minority communities, including immigrants.
Evaluations conducted have shown that there is a great need for expertise and policies
regarding the European integration of minorities in both their countries of origin and in the
new host countries when we are dealing with migration1.
The concept of “Europe without borders” can provide the solution to the ethnic
problem on the continent. Some politicians and political scientists consider that the model
of the “nation state” has not been able to provide sustainable finality through the
citizenship institution. Limited in its defining pattern, the classic citizenship offered only a
kind of equality principle, abstract, to residents within the borders of a national state, but
the same borders did split many ethno-cultural communities, dividing the population into
two categories, the majority and the inhabiting minorities2.
The disappearance of multinational empires such as Russia and Austria-Hungary
at the end of WWI led Central and Eastern Europe to building national states firstly based
on ethnic and demographic criteria, but also on economic and strategic interests of the
powers at that moment.
History has proven that the way in which the managing of a new European
architecture was envisaged during the interwar period was doomed from the start, as the
myriad of ethnic enclaves marring the national unity of the successoral states were as
many reasons to trigger revisionist actions, which in reality were only the mask that
concealed economic interests. This situation was due to the fact that between citizens of
different ethnic groups in the same country rose „internal frontiers”, separating the parties
and their stages from each other, limits their areas of availability, values, ideas”3.
In turn, the communist Europe shaped into a separate structure. Unlike Western
Europe, the binding of this superstructure was the common ideology and not interpersonal
relationships, an ideology maintained when the situation was thought to require armed
intervention. Such an event shows failure of communist ideology to build social order
based on justice and freedom4.

*
PhD lecturer at the University of Oradea, Department of International Relations and European
Studies. E-mail: polgaruoradea@gmail.com
1
István Polgár, „The Phenomen of Migration and Integration of Minorities in the European
Union,” Migration and European Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár, Ioan Horga, and
Mircea Brie (Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016), 9–11.
2
Renate Weber, Un concept românesc privind viitorul Uniunii Europene [A Romanian concept
regarding the future of the European Union] (Iași: Polirom, 2001), 53.
3
Andrei Marga, Filosofia unificării europene [The Philosophy of the European Unification
Process] (Cluj Napoca: Biblioteca Apostrof, 1997), 140.
4
Ştefan Delureanu, Geneza Europei comunitare: mesajul democraţiei de inspiraţie creştină [The
Genesis of Community Europe: The message of Christian inspirational democracy], (Bucureşti:
Editura Paideia, 1999), 368.
6
Ethnic intolerance that marked the history of Europe over the centuries has failed
to find a cure even under the dome of the proletarian internationalism. We believe that it
only froze and preserved the seeds of ethnic adversity. The results of these pseudo-
politicians were seen as soon as the system collapsed, the most dramatic example being
that of Yugoslavia5.
There is a different perception between countries with regard to the definitions of
the terms: migrant, national minority and ethnic minority. In some cases, EU Member
States are treating migrants and minorities like own citizens, in other cases like non-
citizens their migration or minority background is viewed as irrelevant in statistical terms6.
There are also differences in the way these people are viewed as having an ethnic minority
background irrespective of how long they have been in that country7.

Education, a tool of integration of traditional minorities in the EU

The issue of national minorities is, in the process of European construction, one of
the most important aspects that European countries have had to manage. Learning about
and researching minorities, for then to transmit knowledge and experience to young
people through education, have become an essential pillar of European values on the
construction of an intercultural society based on direct and indiscriminate cooperation and
collaboration between ethno-religious communities. It is known that European legislation
and practice promote the idea of living together in the sense of social value consisting in
accepting otherness, good understanding of the various ethnic groups within the same
local communities and openness to communication and cooperation8.
The European education should not be directed exclusively to knowing the
minority communities, but also to understanding the mechanisms of management and
development of partnership relations between the minority and the majority.
The three studies from the section entitled „Education, a tool of integration of
traditional minorities in the EU” are focusing on the role of education in the integration
process of any minority.
The section starts with Erzsebet Jasz’ study which is focusing on the role of the
foreign citizen students from the Hungarian Educational System. She emphasizes the
interaction between the education system and the foreign students, the effects and the
results that are generated by any change in the educational system.
Nowadays there are no any processes that would not overstep the borders in the
globalisation world. The repulsive and attractive factors, the demographic factors and the
labour-market relations influenced the education9.

5
Adrian Marino, Revenirea în Europa: idei şi controverse româneşti: 1990–1995 [Returning to
Europe: Romanian ideas and controversies: 1990-1995] (București: Aius, 1996), 398.
6
Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services, „Evaluation of ESF Support for Enhancing Access to
the Labour Market and the Social Inclusion of Migrants and Ethnic Minorities,” (Belgium, 2011):
40, accessed July 12, 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=7106&langId=en.
7
István Polgár and Felix Anghel Popescu, „Integration of Minorities in the European Union. A
Comparative Study Regarding the European Structural Funds for Migrants and Minorities during
2000–2006 and 2007–2013,” Analalele Universității din Oradea, Seria International Relations
and European Studies (Oradea: Editura Universității din Oradea), TOM VIII (2016): 189–190.
8
Mircea Brie, “National Minorities: Levels of Educational Analysis,” in Migration and European
Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár, Ioan Horga, and Mircea Brie (Saarbrucken: Lambert
Academic Publishing, 2016), 13–14.
9
Indermit S. Gill, Fred Fluitman, and Amit Dar (eds), Vocational Education and Training Reform.
Matching Skills to Markets and Budgets (A joint study of the World Bank and the International
 7
10
The Hungarian vocational training changes considerably . For example, the
names of the type of vocational schools were changed. Although, new subject had been
created in the Hungarian education. The name of the subject is „Science” which is the
mixture of biology, geography, physics, and chemistry. The previous effects will influence
the number and the distribution of students and the catchment area of the schools in the
future. The aim of this research was to investigate the role of the Hungarian education
among the foreign, different citizen students, and mostly focused on the neighbouring
countries.11
The first section continues with the study of Silvia Iorgulescu, entitled “Language
Policies Designed to Protect and Promote Minority Languages in Romania. Case Study:
The Education in Armenian”.
The main goal of the present study is to show that linguistic policies, at least in the
case of minority languages, mean presumably more than the macro-policies adopted and
implemented by the national authority at a government level12. They may prove to be
either inadequate or too general for the specific needs of a particular minority. Therefore,
they must be updated and complemented based on a minority’s own needs – a meso-level
type policies generated by minority representation bodies (NGOs, political representation,
private schools, the media, the Church, etc.)13. Furthermore, a major contributor to this
regard are the micro-level type language policies – households and individuals belonging
to a language minority – which should contribute to the efforts of perpetuating the
linguistic heritage by using the language and passing it on to the next generations, or by
becoming involved in the approaches designed to appropriate and enhance the vitality of
the mother tongue. Thus, the language policies can be considered as links in an
operational chain, with each of them answering to a well-specified role. Each of these
segments must assume and apply their respective roles, while preserving a fluent and bi-
directional communication between them 14 . When one of these links is – totally or
partially – malfunctioning or when communication is done defectively, the linguistic
policy will also present inherent failures. The subject of the analysis below is investigating
and demonstrating these hypotheses, with regard to the Romanian authorities and the
Armenian language in education.

Labour Office) (Washington: Oxford University Press, 2000); CEDEFOP, From Education to
Working Life. The Labour Market Outcomes of Vocational Education and Training
(Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2012).
10
György Mártonfi, „A szakképzés intézményrendszerének átalakulásai” [The transformations of
the institutional system of the vocational training], Educatio I (2016): 46–58.
11
György Mártonfi „Térségi Integrált Szakképző Központok. Adalékok az iskolarendszerű szakképzés
intézményrendszerének átalakulásáról” [Regional, integrated vocational centers. Additions to the
transformation of institutional system of vocational training] (Budapest: OFI, 2011).
12
István Polónyi, „A hazai szakképzés formálódása” [The changes of the Hungarion vocational
training], Educatio 2 (2006): 371–386.
13
Joan Rubin and Björn H. Jernudd, “Introduction. Language Planning as an Element in
Modernization,” in Can Language Be Planned? Sociolinguistic Theory and Practice for
Developing Nations. Sociolinguistic Theory and Practice for Developing Nations (Honolulu:
University Press Hawaii, 1971), XVI, quoted in Sherida Altehenger-Smith, Language Change via
Language Planning: Some Theoretical and Empirical Aspects with a Focus on Singapore
(Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1990), 20.
14
Robert B. Kaplan and Richard Baldauf, Language Planning from Practice to Theory,
Multilingual Matters 108, ed. John Edwards (Cleveland, Philadelphia, Toronto, Sydney,
Johannesburg: Multilingual Matters LTD, 1997), 3.
8
The last article from the first section, signed by Kóti Tibor, from the University of
Debrecen, entitled “Development of Human Resources in the Hungarian – Romanian
Border Region with Special Regard to the Social and Economic Integration of the Roma
Population”, deals with the outcome, the result of the educational system.
In this study, the reader can find the social geographic analysis of the Roma
minority living in the vicinity of the Hungarian-Romanian border in the North Trans Tisza
region (Szabolcs–Szatmár–Bereg county, Hajdú-Bihar county) is presented regarding
human resources development. Studying the spatial structure of Hungary it can be stated
that Roma people live in significant numbers in the studied two counties therefore the
development of their border regions is essential. The different groups of Roma people are
on different levels of integration, which presents higher challenge for those living in
settlements along the border. In this paper the results related to segments associated
closely with human resources development, i.e. the demographic, education and labour
market situation of Roma people living along the Hungarian-Romanian border are
presented. Activating the human resources “reserve” in border regions in Hungary
(especially in the North Trans Tisza region) has become a national issue. Within a few
decades a significant portion of the ageing majority will be in pensioner age while a
significant rate – almost half – of the working age group will be Roma people. Therefore,
it is highly important whether this working age group lives on aids and benefits or
contributes to the prosperity of Hungary as active members of the society15.
Based on the information earned from the three shortly above described articles
we can conclude that in what concerns the education for and about national minorities it
must be underlined that there is great need to develop a legal and institutional framework to
enable and promote an intercultural education system. National minorities should not only
be able to express themselves freely and without any restrictions from the majority by
adequate education, but their specific characteristics and particularities should be included in
school curricula of the majority16.

Ethnical Groups and Minority Rights at the Eastern and South-Eastern

Border of the EU
The European Union is concerned by its legitimacy, to grow it, to solve problem
of legitimacy deficit, even in terms of judicial function of it. Increasing legitimacy on this
regard includes strengthening legality through the judicial function of the EU. The
phenomenon of EU enlargement was a strategic opportunity to define, formalize and, to
some extent, to contribute of an image change at least.17 Judicial function has acting in
two ways: first, candidates were required to ensure judicial independence (since the
judicial function should enforce the law erga omnes); secondly, they were required to
improve their judicial capacity such that the functioning courts to be able to deal
effectively conflicts arising between private actors or between citizens and public

15
Csaba Dupcsik, A magyarországi cigányság története. Történelem a cigánykutatások tükrében,
1890–2008 [History of Roma Population in Hungary. History Reflecting Roma Research 1890–
2008] (Budapest: Osiris Kiadó, 2009).
16
Mircea Brie, “National Minorities: Levels of Educational Analysis,” in Migration and European
Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár, Ioan Horga, and Mircea Brie (Saarbrucken: Lambert
Academic Publishing, 2016), 21.
17
Martin Shapiro, Courts: A Comparative and Political Analysis (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1981).
 9
18
institutions . The approach also involved a higher judicial capacity for member states,
going to a real „pattern of judicial cooperation”19.
The three studies from the section entitled „Ethnical Groups and Minority Rights
at the Eastern and South-Eastern Border of the EU” are focusing on the legal issues and
obstacles which are identified especially at the Eastern and South Eastern border of the
EU. These obstacles are directly related to the status and the rights of minorities in the
Member States.
The section starts with the study of Mihai-Răzvan Huszarik, which focuses on the
ethnic problems, the source of more and more uncertainty in Ukraine. Hence, in study we
can find a historical background and the new challenges faced by the Ukrainian authorities
in the case of minority rights.
As Huszarik says, ethnicity became an important issue in Central Europe in the 19th
century. One of the main reasons why multinational states like Austro-Hungary disappeared
a century later was the ethnic issue, which was never fully solved by the Hapsburg, Austro-
Hungarian authorities. This led to a deeper and more complex movement, the national
movement. However in more cases different groups, communities, which considered
themselves as being distinct ethnic groups or nations, were not able, due to different reasons,
to create a separate state, which would serve as a heaven for their ethnic/national aspiration.
This was the case of Ukraine, a nation that was not able to obtain its national sovereignty at
the beginning of the 20th century. Today’s Ukraine is not an ethnic monolith. Many different
ethnic groups are part of Ukraine. Among those groups one has a particular standing. The
Rusyn minority is different from the other ethnic minorities living in Ukraine, due to its
political status primarily, and due to the majority-minority relation between the Ukrainian
central institutions and the regional institutions in Transcarpathia.
The second section continues with the study Natalia Putină and Mariana Iațco,
entitled “Political Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Republic of Moldova: A
Framework for an Analysis of Gagauz Ethnic Minority Representation”.
In general, in the international practice there are several types of strategies on the
integration of minorities in political life. The authors of the above-mentioned study will
try to describe these strategies through the experience of multi-ethnic states, relating them
to the Moldovan political reality and Gagauz people situation in this matter20.
Achieving broad representation of different ethnic groups has important
implications for the stability and quality of democracy, especially for states in transition to
democracy and emerging out of long periods of authoritarian rule. Withal, the way that
ethnic minorities are included in the democratic process strongly influences the inter-ethnic
relations at the state level and the creation of an inclusive society is an important task for
any democratic government. An inclusive society is made up of citizens, acting (are able and
empowered to act) as agents, people who feel represented by their government and have
effective mechanisms to influence government decisions. His article addresses the issue of
representation of ethnic minorities overall in multi-ethnic societies, but comes with specific
details on strategies of representation of minorities in political life in Moldova, with the
18
Gabriela Goudenhooft, “The European Court of Justice as an Institutional Actor of European
Integration,” in Migration and European Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár, Ioan Horga,
and Mircea Brie (Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016), 255.
19
Daniela Piana, „Judicial Policies and European Enlargement. Building the Image of a Rule of
Law Promoter,” in The Search for a European Identity. Values, Policies and Legitimacy of the
European Union, ed. Furio Cerutti and Sonia Lucarelli (New York: Routledge, 2008), 176.
20
Arendt Lijphart, “Democratic Political Systems,” in Contemporary Political Systems: Classifications
and Typologies, ed. Anton Bebler and Jim Seroka (Boulde: Lynne Reiner, 1990), 71–87.
10
particular case Gagauz ethnic minority. The authors intend to carry out an overall policy of
Moldova integration of ethnic minorities, through the electoral procedures or through
political parties as a promoter of the interests of various ethnic groups21.
The last article from the first section, signed by Professor Penka Peeva from the
Assen Zlatarov University from Burgas, reveals the situation of a not Christian, traditional
minority from the South border of the European Union.
The article entitled “The Turkish Ethnic Group in Bulgaria: History and Problems
in Integration makes a very deep radiography of the Turkish community from Bulgaria.
The Muslim emigration from Bulgaria to Turkey has been going on for more than
a century. With some exceptions, the emigrant waves resulted from caused and forced
migration. Almost a million Bulgarian ethnic Turks left the country, 390,000 of them only
during the period between 1989 and 1997. The International humanitarian organizations
qualified this process as the biggest migration of groups of people after the World War II.
The purpose of this research is to evaluate the changes of the Bulgarian political
strategy towards the Turkish ethnic community in the last three decades. The research
focus is on the second biggest Bulgarian ethno-religious minority – the Bulgarian ethnic
Turks – its social status, self-identification and participation in the political and social life
in Bulgaria.
Based on the information earned from the three shortly above described articles
we can conclude that the countries of East Central Europe have been searching for their
place since the transformation period. Most of the countries are already members – or
candidate members – of the European Union but their joining to the Western market
economies is not lacking problems. As a consequence of the current financial and
economic crisis, the EU has become even more “two-speed”. In this crisis the situation of
the minority population living here has become particularly hopeless22.
The so-called “second gear” countries of the European Union, of course, expect legal
and financial support from the European Union. It is a sorrowful well-known fact that in the
post-socialist countries the change of regime undermined the earlier achieved socio-economic
and social successes for the sake of the rise of the national minorities everywhere23.
Of course, there are significant differences between the ethnic groups by
countries, and even within the countries, regarding their relationship with the mainstream
society, and attitude towards education, regular work, subsistence crime, and the European
values in general. The socio-economic integration of the national minorities is a pan
European interest and task. Catching up may be successful only with the effective sacrifice of
the European Union.

International Migration and new minority groups

Migration is a social phenomenon of human moves dating back to early
civilizations and continuing even in recent times. People all over the world migrate due to
various reasons. The European Union is not an exception in this concert of migrations.

21
David Horowitz, “Electoral System: A Primer for Decision Makers,” in Journal of Democracy
14, no. 4 (2003): 115–127; Arendt Lijphart, “Constitutional Choices for New Democracies,” in
Journal of Democracy 2, no. 1 (1991): 72–84.
22
István Süli-Zakar, Ágnes Pálóczi, and István Molnár, “Question of Roma Integration and
Migration Endevouring of the Roma People in South Eastern Europe,” in Migration and
European Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár, Ioan Horga, and Mircea Brie
(Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016), 305–310.
23
Ibid.
 11
Migration in the European Union represents a very complex and stuffy topic for theorists
and practitioners.
As migration comprises emigration and immigration facets, this research focuses
primarily on immigration, because since the foundation of European Communities it
became a social and institutional problem of united Europe. Specific provisions on
immigration are to be identified in the primary, secondary and supplementary sources of
European Union law24.
The three studies from the section entitled „International Migration and new
minority groups” propose to present the direct relation between the migration process and
the appearance of new ethnical or confessional minority groups in the EU Member States.
The section starts with the study of Edina Lilla Mészáros, entitled “A
Deconstruction of the Immigration Rhetoric during the Current Refugee Crisis”.
At the beginning of 2015 the EU was hit by an unprecedented number25 of third
country nationals seeking asylum and international protection within its borders. This
influx has shown that the community’s present institutional and legislative framework is
not suitable for the management of the crisis, leading to profound divisions among
Member States. This division has become highly visible with the emergence of
fragmented media coverage and of public discourse along national/supranational lines,
expressing the EU’s incapability to provide a scene for genuine discussions amongst
Member States.
The article is aimed at identifying the existing link between the media and the
predominant narrative on migration and asylum in the construction of public belief and the
elaboration of various governing processes concerning migration and asylum, by carrying
out a comparative multilevel analysis of public discourses launched by the political
leaders in different Member States and by the representatives of EU institutions during the
current refugee/migration crisis begun in 2015. We believe that by undertaking a
multilevel comparative critical discourse analysis concerning the current migration crisis,
we could better comprehend the elaborated policy actions and governing processes both at
intergovernmental and supranational level.
The third section continues with the study entitled “European Union –Turkey
Refugee Deal”, signed by Andra Sîrcă from University of Sakarya from Turkey.
It is well known the fact that European Union since its establishment had and still
has precise, well developed principles, regulations and policies. Through out time it has
proven its policies and regulations as being effective once with the shifting of political
regimes across European countries and nevertheless with the new regional issues that
emerged lately. Most recent and worrying topic that is being debated in Europe and not
only is the problem of migration from third world countries torn apart by the war.
The article aims to highlight the European Union law enforcement on what
migration is concerned and how it was applied during the European migration crisis from
2015. Furthermore, it shows how a Third World Country proved to be more effective at
sustaining the high influx of refugees coming from a war torn zone in the Middle East,

24
Vasile Cucerescu, “Cohesion, Integration and Securization Challenges for EU Migration Law
and Policy,” in Migration and European Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár, Ioan Horga,
and Mircea Brie (Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016), 103–105.
25
See Eurostat, “Asylum in the EU Member States Record number of over 1.2 million First Time
Asylum Seekers Registered in 2015 Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis: Top Citizenship,” 44 (4 March
2016): 1, accessed October 29, 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7203832/3-
04032016-AP-EN.pdf/.
12
Syria. Also in the article it is shown the means that EU has found to keep under control
the chaotic situation created in less than a year.
The future of the E.U.-Turkey deal is clearly very much in the balance. All things
being equal Ankara would probably prefer to maintain the deal, but the Turkish authorities
are very unlikely to compromise on visa-free travel. The question is whether E.U. leaders
are prepared to offer it despite Turkey’s failure to meet the criteria set. Some certainly are,
but the number of countries prepared to walk away from the deal appears to be growing.
The last article from the third section, entitled “The importance of minorities and
their heritage in the development of local communities. The Transylvanian model”,
proposes the presentation of a cohabitation model between several ethnic groups, in the
middle of Europe.
The last article from the third section entitled “Ethno-confessional realities in
Transylvania. The importance of minorities in regional development.” propose the
presentation of a cohabitation model between several ethnic groups, in the middle of
Europe.
The present world is changing very fast. Regarding migration and minorities,
during last several years dramatic events happened not only at European, but also at
international level. That’s why we can state that 2017 became the symbolic year. In almost
100 years after the end of the First World War the situation in Europe is hot again.
Nobody knows direction of its development but everybody is thinking about challenges of
new century26.
The situation with national minorities is a permanent subject of interstate
discussions and meetings. National minorities are the object of increased attention of
governments and political powers in particular who are interested in keeping its position
and influence abroad. It’s obvious that the foreign policy of certain states and political
leaders influence a lot on national minorities’ position and activity. The national minority
problem is often used by some states in their foreign policy. Some states not only monitors
the situation in neighbouring states but also uses this factor as a mean of political,
economical and even military pressure.
During the 17th and 18th centuries the Carpathian Basin was known as one of the
most troubled regions of Europe concerning ethnic and religious conflicts, insomuch that
the ideological and social systems that ruled the region during the last century were not
able to remove the existing tension between the different ethnic groups27.
The changes that occurred on the post political totalitarian systems indicated upon
the fact that the political process was profoundly influenced by the ethnic factor.
Therefore, some authors sustained the idea that the ethnic identification is the aim of the
political life. This important dimension may be latent or absent in this important
dimension in the West, but at the full scale in the East states. We sustain the idea that
contemporary political process of post-totalitarian states was and is deeply ethnically,
there were written the numerous works about it. The democratic evolution of Central
European political process as objective and conscious action, but on the other hand, the

26
Nataliya Nechayeva-Yurichuk, “The Problem of the Russian Speaking People, Integration in
post Soviet States,” in Migration and European Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár, Ioan
Horga, and Mircea Brie (Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016), 127.
27
Kocsis Károly and Kocsisné Hodosi Eszter, Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in
the Carpathian Basin (Budapest: Geographical Research Institute Hungarian Aca, 1998), 13–14.
 13
democratization of the countries from this geographic area could be explained through the
"pluralism by default" paradigm conceived, as a communist legacy28.
Nowadays, it is known that European legislation and practice promote the idea of
living together, in the sense of social value consisting of acceptance of otherness, good
understanding of the various ethnic groups within the same local communities and
openness to communication and cooperation. There is a standpoint recognized both by
most political and civic leaders, and by the specialized literature at home and abroad,
according to which there is now talk of national existence of the “Romanian model of
interethnic relations”, an intercultural model based the values of comity and cooperation.
The Romanian model of interethnic coexistence components stem from a rich historical
experience and from the ability to adapt the concept to the demands of the modern
exigencies29

Focus: Europeanisation in Bilateral Relations: The Cases of Minority Rights

Policies in Eastern Europe in the Context of Enlargement Policy
Research objectives of the phenomenon of immigration in the European Union
comprise three layers: cohesion, integration and securitization.
These issues are crucial for both the European Union and Member States in the
light of the European Union law and policy in this field. Provisional elements on
immigration matters such as rationale, premises, motives, causes and effects, seem to be
of great importance, both inside and outside the European Union, to tackle on this
phenomenon30.
For instance, throughout its history Europe has been considered as the “Old
Continent”, the cradle of civilization, the land of prosperity, and, for the last sixty-year
period, the land of peace. This should be taken into consideration when discussing the
phenomenon of immigration in the European Union.
The European Union faces multiple crises both internally and externally. The
instruments through which it chooses to respond to these challenges shape the view that
the partner countries have about its normative power. Even if the enlargement policy is
currently a secondary priority, the interest for maintaining a stable and secure
neighbourhood emphasizes the need for a coherent policy in this field and subsequently
the need for a common approach of the national foreign policies and the European
perspective. In this context, the Europeanisation represents a significant opportunity for
development and rapprochement for the partner countries, both through EU’s instruments
and national ones, but one inquire which the means of influence are. In order to assess
this, the paper explores the concept of Europeanisation and its impact on the minority
rights policies in Eastern Europe, in particular in Romania. The interconnectedness
between the bilateral dialogue and the European Union influence in Western Balkans is

28
Putină Natalia, “National Minorities in Moldova between Eastern and Western Aspirations.
Risks and Challenges,” in Migration and European Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár,
Ioan Horga, and Mircea Brie (Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016), 69.
29
Iuliu Furo, “Păstrarea identităţii minorităţilor naţionale” [Preserving the identity of national
minorities], in Relaţii interetnice în România postcomunistă [Inter-ethnic relations in post-
communist Romania], ed. Lucian Năstasă and Levente Scarlat (Cluj-Napoca: Fundaţia CRDE,
2000), 221.
30
Vasile Cucerescu, “Cohesion, Integration and Securization Challenges for EU Migration Law
and Policy,” in Migration and European Integration of Minorities, ed. István Polgár, Ioan Horga,
and Mircea Brie (Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2016), 104.
14
evaluated by discussing the impact of bilateral lobbying in the relation between Romania
and Serbia regarding the field of the Europeanisation of minority rights.
The phenomenon of migration and the integration process of minorities in the
European Union is a very complex issue. The European Union is both affected and afflicted
by waves of immigrants and the problem of traditional minorities, but it still cannot restrict
or deny entirely the existence of these issues, because minorities and immigrants contribute
to social, economic and cultural development of European societies.

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