Tatunts Svetlana

The migration crisis that started in the European Union in 2015 is the topic of the most actual and urgent political debates in Europe nowadays. The article analyses the main reasons of this crisis which can be found in the security issues and the long-term military conflicts in various countries of the Middle and Near East and Africa. The authors underline the related international legal problems and the malfunctioning of the all-European structures. The EU's collaboration with Turkey in terms of the all-European border protection from the massive illegal immigration from Turkey is critically evaluated. The article shows clearly the ambiguity of the current migration policy in the European Union, for whom on the one hand, the migration is regarded as a social, economic and demographic resource and on the other hand, as the factor of pressure on the welfare system.

The constant author of the journal «Public Administration» Professor Svetlana Tatunz speaks about the importance of the expert opinion for the development of the balanced state policy, recollecting the sad experience of ignoring the opinion of scientists in inter-ethnic issues. Congratulating the journal with the release of the jubilee issue, the author emphasizes the importance of the journal as a platform of opinion exchange among those who are interested in the development of the state.

Norway and Sweden were cultural homogenous societies partly away from Europe´s mass immigration from Asian and African countries until the last two decades of the 20th century. The authors investigate social and cultural consequences of transformation of these countries into a “desirable social paradise” for dozens of refugees, illegal immigrants and migrant workers (“Gastarbeiter”). Having turned down immigration policy liberalization and preserved the main state principles of providing all legal immigrants with rights and freedoms support, Norway and Sweden have toughened their legislation during the last decade for the sake of strengthening social, economical and political stability of the society. The article shows the common traits and specific features of the immigration situation in both countries and institutional grounds for admission policy of new immigrants and their social and cultural integration. The authors analyze the connection between the problem of non constructive strategy of the socio cultural adaptation of the citizens with immigration and Islamic cultural backgrounds and the rise of xenophobic moods in the society and stronger support for rightwing populism and antiIslamic radicalism. Both the welfare state and liberal values face big challenges which may come like a thunderbolt for the social system in general.

The low voter turnout during the European parliamentary elections of 2014 demonstrated the attitude of Europe's citizens towards the common European idea. Eastern Europe especially virtually ignored the elections by its very low electoral participation, despite the fact that these countries were Europe's main beneficiaries after joining the EU in receiving tremendous subsidies. The article focuses on the phenomenon of “euro-fatigue” and euroskepticism. The authors' goal is to analyze the results of the European elections and to show the correlation between voter passivity and a growing centralization and bureaucratization in Brussels' processes of economic and political decision-making. Special attention is paid on the main results of the 2014 European elections, which garnered unprecedented support for right-wing populist and Eurosceptic parties in countries like France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark. The authors emphasize the possible consequences of the ongoing economic crisis that may result in a division of the eurozone into two parts: a strong northern euro and a weak southern euro. They also concentrate on the lack of transparency and efficiency in the work of such European Union institutions such as the European parliament (an institution represented by more than 160 European participating parties) and the European commission (which is still formed by appointments from all 28 EU member states). The authors conclude that Europe is unlikely to move towards further integration if its citizens are no longer living on the ideal of further European association and in fact are becoming increasingly demanding a return almost by all, without exception, of competency of governance to national governments.

In the article the author considers the process of integration of migrants in the European Union labour market, and the different integration programs related to the management and control of immigration arising as a result of domestic and foreign policy aspects relative to this phenomenon. For the successful integration of migrants, there needs to be a closer and more intense participation by them in the social, cultural, economic and political life of the host countries of the European Union. Special attention is paid towards the measures and programs (particularly at the local level) where the migrant workers live, work, and integrate in their new socio-cultural environment. The programs assisting the integration of migrants, are seen as being more successful when they are largely carried out by local organizations and agencies which take into account the specific countries and cultures where such migrants originate from in the successful integration within the European Union Countries. One such example is that of Germany, where the author demonstrates the scale of work having been carried out in this direction and evaluating the achieved and under achieved goals envisaged by such program. The topic is of relevance especially in the context of the ever-growing influx of migrants in countries of the European Union, the significant socio-cultural differences existing between them and the local population and the problems of the successful integration of the foreign labor force in the European Union being one of the key issues. These events resulted in policy changes relating to labour resources by European countries due mainly to the external influx of migrant cheap labour. As such in many European cities migrant labour is considered an important resource in filling the gaps in deficiencies of qualified labour resources.

Global immigration made significant changes to Western Europe's ethnic and confessional appearance during the last decades. The presented paper aims to analyze adaptation problems with cultural minorities in Europe, in particular with young Turks in Germany. Just like other EU countries, the German society also suffers from social, cultural and political problems caused by a huge portion of young Muslims not willing to become integrated into the German social and cultural world. The authors admonish of the danger that Germany might face having developed complete „parallel societies“ within its own society and state that many Turks born in Germany (members of the second and third generation there) have identity problems that may cause serious consequences. Special attention is paid to the necessary changes of Germany's integration policy and state measures to stimulate the mutual intercultural adaptation.