Foreigners in the 8 th district of Budapest
Research report
The research was conducted in the framework of WP5 of the INTERREG project ‘Experiment in Newcomers’ Integration’ (ENI), by staff of the Institute of Ethnic and National Minority Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and contracted experts, for the Foundation for the Development of Democratic Rights (DemNet)
Authors: Synthesis Report: Réka Hegedős, Maja Bumberák Thematic Study on Demography, Social issues: Lea Kıszeghy Institute of Ethnic and National Minority Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Kyra Tomay – Eötvös Loránd University Thematic Study on Economy: Miklós Kóródi – Autonómia Foundation Thematic Study on Culture: Ildikó Zakariás, Luca Váradi Institute of Ethnic and National Minority Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Project co-ordination on behalf of the Institute of Ethnic and National Minority Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences: Lea Kıszeghy Project co-ordination on behalf of DemNet: Barbara Erıs
Budapest, 1 st August 2007
1 Main findings
Demography In international comparison, in Hungary the number and the ratio of foreigners is not significant (1,5 per cent of the total population in the country level), however, due to their uneven territorial distribution, in certain localities the presence of foreign population might be perceived as a significant issue, still not necessarily in quantitative terms, but in terms of their appearance in the local institutions, the local – not necessarily formal – economy as well as in the public perception. This is the situation in the 8 th district of Budapest, Józsefváros. There is a perceptible and presumably significant number of foreigners who are not documented officially and it seems to be impossible to make exact estimations about their ratio and impact. It can be supposed that among foreigner groups from EU 15 countries their ratio is lower, and among Asians it is higher. The composition of foreigners in Hungary is very specific, since the majority of them arrived from the neighbouring countries and is ethnic Hungarian. The whole issue of integration is strongly affected by this fact in Hungary, since they have common cultural roots and share a common language with people from the host society. Their integration is much less problematic, and poses very different questions than in the case of other groups of foreigners, but also their presence is not perceptible in many cases. As a result they were underrepresented in the analysis as well, since they simply fell out of the interest of many of our data sources. The 8 th district is an important point of concentration for foreigners, especially in the young active age group, where their ratio reaches 10 per cent of the total young active age group of the district (even according to official statistics). Foreigners show a younger age structure than the host society, although the ratio of children is lower, probably as a result of a second wave migration still ongoing, and the lack of well developed social structures within the groups of foreigners. However, a tendency of ageing among foreigners can be observed too. On the whole, the presence of foreigners supposed to have a positive demographic impact at the national level, however, it is strongly limited by the fact that their ratio is still insignificant in statistical terms, especially in international comparison.
Education and social issues The proportion of foreigner children in the Hungarian educational system as a whole is not significant (0,7 per cent of the total school population), however, partly linked to the above mentioned uneven territorial distribution, foreign children concentrate in certain schools, which requires responses (specific policies, pedagogical approach) from these institutions. In Józsefváros we found more examples for that, in kindergartens and primary schools as well. The same refers to crèches (day nurseries for 0 3 years old children) which belong to the system of social services in Hungary. The implementation of the national level educational programs and initiatives concerning the integration of foreigners does not seem to be very effective and fluent at present, partly because of administrative and partly because of pedagogical reasons. Certain schools tend to take initiatives and develop steps themselves, but a lot depends on the personal approach and willingness of teachers and decision makers in individual institutions. The long tradition of the mostly unconscious and hiding assimilational pedagogic methodology is still prevailing in the Hungarian educational system. The foreigner population, although formally entitled to access social services such as benefits or subsidised housing, practically does not appear in these systems (with the
2 exception of crèches which belong to social services in Hungary). Housing is solved in private means either by private rental or by own ownership, and also social care – when needed – seems to be solved within informal networks. However, it might be partly a consequence of the difficult and bureaucratic ways of obtaining such social services. as well as lack of information, since the local government does not make any specific efforts to inform non Hungarian speakers about such opportunities (referring to the low proportion of migrants as well as lack of capacity)
Economy In Hungary, economic migration is prevailing, it is reflected by the significantly younger age structure of the foreign population as well. However, the number of foreigners working in Hungary with a work permit compared to the total number of the employed is low (1,5 per cent), although the number of work permits is continuously on the rise since the middle of the 1990’s. The composition of foreign workforce in Hungary is very specific as it is dominated by ethnic Hungarian employees coming from neighbouring countries (Romania, Slovakia and the Ukraine) and since they have no communication difficulties and are also quite flexible they are much sought after workers in many areas, such as the building industry, health care, agricultural seasonal work, domestic assistance. In 2006 80 per cent of work permits were issued for employees from the above three countries. Chinese employees also comprise a relatively significant group of foreigners employed in Hungary with a working permit. Officially about 6000 Chinese currently reside in the country as employees. Almost 40 per cent of the foreign employees is taken up by industry and building industry, followed by services, commerce and catering. Employees in agriculture tend to apply for seasonal work permits. Illegal employment is prevailing, however, no reliable estimations can be made referring to its scale. Foreigners in possession of a work permit do not tend to concentrate in the 8th district since the area has no significant industrial production that would require a greater number of workers. However, the area is an important target of foreign employees working in Hungary illegally, most of whom arrive from neighbouring countries, especially Romania, and are employed in the building industry. Józsefváros is an important concentration point for small scale business (with low profitability). The foreign enterprises operating in the 8th district usually work in the fields where they can carry out their activity with a relatively small investment, mainly in catering and retail. Foreign entrepreneurs tend to form a relatively closed group, especially the Arabic and the Chinese entrepreneurs are considerably introverted, they manage their affairs almost exclusively within their own community. Józsefváros hosts the largest Chinese market in the country, the effects of which are diverse. On the macro level the local government perceives negative effects (lack or revenues due to private ownership of the area and black market activities), while also positive effects should be mentioned (e.g. taxes and general incomes from the entrepreneurs). On the micro level mainly positive effect can be seen e.g. (not necessarily legal) incomes for local residents based on rental of business facilities, flats, or provision of services for foreigners (e.g. baby sitting). Such invisible economic links have evolved between the foreigners who make their living by the market and the locals in their everyday life. As a consequence of such activities a certain part of the local inhabitants obtains a permanent income, which they could not raise from any other resources. These less visible and measurable indicators (generated by the presence of the Chinese market and the foreigners making businesses in the district) must be emphasized when analysing the impact of foreigners on the local economy. In addition, the market has an important role of the market in the retail trade of Hungary. 3 Looking through the financial and tender possibilities of migrants it seems that foreign entrepreneurs although theoretically being entitled to various grants promoting micro and small enterprises financed by EU or non EU sources, in practice cannot obtain the benefits of these programmes. The problems with administration, the lack of capital resources and the fact that foreign businesses tend to have a different way of operation (e.g. in case of Chinese entrepreneurs the lack of formal accounting in many cases) together form the situation that the economic development programs of the EU have no direct effect on the micro and small enterprises owned by foreigners. There are no foreign small enterprises among the 300 members of the local branch of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Budapest operating as part of the national network. As a result, the presence of informal networks within communities, aiming at mutual help (in some cases, in legally problematic ways, e.g. in case of private credits) can be seen.
Culture In case of decision making level, the issue of integration of foreigners by the means of culture is practically absent. Although at every stage of decision making, the issue was approached in a positive way, officially the question is neither discussed nor related action can be spotted. This can be most probably understood as the lack of interest rather than ignorance, as a result of the relatively low ratio of foreigners in the country as well as the dominance of ethnic Hungarians among foreigners. Organisations specialised in supporting migrants have a central role in creating bonding ties, as well as bridging connections between migrants and hosts and linking ties between migrants and formal institutions on the field of culture. Concerning migrant organisations, a large palette of strategies were found regarding the creation of social capital via culture. Organisations focusing mainly on the support of origin societies might aim to maximise their support and organise events that might attract the possible greatest audience with a major emphasis on actors playing a main role in the distribution of funds and resources; thus create bridging and linking connections among actors from heterogeneous backgrounds (e.g. the Sahara Foundation or the Bocskai Alliance). Organisations that are centered around migrants of better socio economic background (ethnic Hungarians, or the Asian immigrants) might maintain diasporic homogenous organisations (the Domokos Foundation, or the Organisation for Culture and Interest Representation of Vietnamese living in Hungary) and target their cultural activities and programs towards co ethnics.
4 Contents
Main findings ...... 2 Contents...... 5 Synthesis Report...... 6 Introduction ...... 6 The presence of foreigners and their impact on the demographic situation...... 7 Foreigners in the system of education and social services...... 12 Foreigners in the economy ...... 18 The cultural aspect of integration...... 21 Conclusions and recommendations...... 26 Appendix ...... 29 Thematic studies...... 31 Technical Introduction ...... 31 Territorial coverage...... 31 Methodology ...... 31 I. The presence of foreigners and their impact on the demographic situation ...... 34 Hungary...... 34 Central Hungary region...... 41 Budapest ...... 42 8th district...... 46 Summary, conclusions, ending remarks...... 52 II. Foreigners in the system of education and social services ...... 55 II.1. Education...... 55 Hungary...... 56 Central Hungary region and Budapest ...... 61 8th district...... 64 II.2. Access to social services...... 71 2.1 Institutions of social services ...... 71 2.2. Housing ...... 72 Summary, conclusions, ending remarks...... 75 Appendix ...... 78 III. Foreigners in the economy ...... 82 Conditions of employment of foreigners in Hungary ...... 82 Hungary...... 83 Central Hungary region and Budapest ...... 87 8th district...... 89 Possibilities of migrant enterprise development ...... 94 Summary, conclusions, ending remarks...... 96 Appendix ...... 98 IV. The cultural aspect of integration...... 100 The Decision making Level...... 101 Public cultural institutions...... 104 Intermediate Organisations ...... 106 Cultural activism – Migrant Organisations ...... 108 Summary, conclusions, ending remarks...... 116
5 Synthesis Report
Introduction
Preamble
The present report outlines the major issues and key recommendations concerning the research carried out on the impact of foreigners in Hungary, with special attention to the following themes: demography, social services, economy and culture, based on thematic studies concentrating on each of the above issues.
In the course of the Hungarian research, the focus of the analysis was the 8 th district of Budapest, Józsefváros (from here on, the names 8th district, and Józsefváros will be used synonymously in the text. For the location of Józsefváros see Appendix 1). The selection of the target area was partly based on already existing data and information referring to the high ratio of migrants residing and/or working in the district compared to other areas of the capital and the whole country. In addition, in the public perception Józsefváros appears as a district hosting a concentrated and varied foreign population, and as a typical multiethnic space. However, in order to put the situation in Józsefváros in context, thus helping a more comprehensive understanding of the situation, the analysis refers to higher territorial levels as well, namely Hungary as such, the Central Hungary region (for the regional structure of Hungary see Appendix 2) and the capital, Budapest.
Findings on the various territorial levels complement each other, and are sometimes interwoven in a special way. The relative significance of territorial levels might vary according to the respective issue, but the main focus always stays on the 8th district. In many cases the statistics of the relevant higher territorial levels serve as the context helping to understand the quantitative and qualitative data and phenomena concerning narrower territorial levels. Thus, every section starts with the provision of data concerning the national level, and the micro setting of the 8th district is approached step by step.
The relevant issues of the main thematic studies were occasionally quite difficult to discuss separately in the sections. This resulted in a special structure, and way of narration, with an aim to develop a synthesis in a comprehensive manner and to ensure the inclusion of significant knowledge in a holistic way. Firstly, a description of the relevant Hungarian setting will be presented, where an important role is assigned to the demographic aspects of the issue of migration, and the context is presented with a special focus on the national level. All these serve as tools of thorough grounding for understanding further results.
Methodology
In the course of the research both quantitative and qualitative techniques were applied. However, in the case of Hungary, qualitative techniques were present in a larger proportion than it was planned in the original project design. The need to supplement quantitative data analysis with a greater amount of qualitative methods, can partly be explained by the difficulties of gaining relevant statistical data, as well as the deficiencies of the available statistical data.
Furthermore, the low ratio and uneven distribution of the foreign population at the national level, and their high ratio and high visibility in the 8th district brought about a stronger need for fieldwork and examination of interpersonal phenomena and relevant mechanisms working on the micro level of this smaller territory. It is important to note, that the qualitative methods 6 used in research served not only to provide the missing quantitative data, but they are aimed at presenting a more complex reality, which is impossible to gain from mere statistics.
In the present study, quantitative data was requested from relevant organisations identified by the research team. The required set of data strictly followed the set of indicators agreed on by the project managers, with additional requests regarding the local context. The use of qualitative research techniques basically meant analysing the existing literature on the issue in question, and carrying out a series of interviews.
As far as the interviews are concerned, they were carried out with competent persons, decision makers and experts from the 8 th district (from the local government, an urban renewal company, NGOs etc.). In addition, as agreed by the project managers, a set of “contextual interviews” were made with different kinds of experts (researchers, officials in relevant ministries etc.) in order to obtain more comprehensive data and information, which was essential in order to contextualise the situation in Józsefváros. Furthermore, where it was considered necessary, interviews were made with members of the communities in question (either from the 8 th district or from outside, as “contextual” information).
The interview guidelines were partly based on the indicator structure agreed on by the project managers, in order to obtain experts' estimations on missing data as well. The other parts of the interviews aimed at obtaining more complex, qualitative information, with a special focus on co habitation and conflicts of different population groups, as well as the opportunities and problems of integration.
The presence of foreigners and their impact on the demographic situation
Preamble
An important factor helping in understanding the present situation is that due to the political framework and administrative limitations migration to Hungary was practically non existent before 1988. It only appeared around the time of the political transitions in 1989, and has constantly been on the increase since then. Hungary has been acting partly as a transit, and partly as a target area of international migration. Throughout the period, the most significant group of foreigners settling in the country has arrived from neighbouring countries, most of them ethnic Hungarians. However, a significant proportion of them were naturalised thus fall out from the statistics on the foreigner population. The second smaller but important group were comprised of people from Asian countries, mostly from China and Vietnam. From time to time, waves of migrants from other areas, e.g. Africa, or Afghanistan etc. have also reached the country. But these were lower scale, and usually resulted only in temporary stays, since for the latter groups Hungary typically serves as a transit country. Since the end of the ’90s, linked to Hungary’s EU accession and economic development the rate of international migration began to increase, and the composition of immigrants is changing, resulting from a growing number of citizens who moved to Hungary from Western European countries, many of whom arrived as managers of multinational companies.
An important phenomenon contextualising migration to Hungary is the fact that the population of Hungary has been decreasing since the beginning of the ‘80s , originating from medium level of fertility and high level of mortality. At present migration to Hungary only partly compensates the natural population loss. Nonetheless, it is also important to stress and is to be kept in mind while reading the present report that the ratio of the foreign population in Hungary compared to the total population is very low in international comparison. At
7 present, the ratio of the foreign population in Hungary is 1,5 per cent of the population according to official statistics (154.000 persons). However, the ratio of the foreign population in the total population is slowly growing.
The geographical dispersion of foreigners in Hungary on the whole is very uneven. Most of them concentrate in the most developed part of the country, the Central Hungarian region and especially in the capital, Budapest, where they comprise 3,9 per cent of the total population. This concentration of foreigners increased in the last ten years. While the population share of the Central Hungarian region approx. 28 per cent of the total population remained more or less constant in the last ten years (with the parallel processes of natural decrease and positive mainly internal migration balance), its share of the foreigners increased: At present, the concentration of foreigners in the CH region 56 per cent – is twice as strong as the concentration of the total population. Even more interesting is that while the total population share of the capital significantly decreased in the last ten years (as a result of natural decrease of the population and suburbanisation), its share in the foreigners ceaselessly increased, from 35 to 43 per cent.
However, the international migration (with an annual rate of approx. 1450 persons) cannot overcome the population loss of the capital. In the last ten years, Budapest lost nearly 11 per cent of its population, more than 200.000 persons, due to natural decrease and outward migration.
In Budapest, Józsefváros is the most significant concentration point of foreigners. The ratio of foreigners documented by the CSO is the highest among all Budapest districts and is constantly increasing, in 1998 it was 4,1 per cent, while in 2006 foreigners make up 6,5 per cent of the population. According to qualitative sources, the actual number and ratio of foreigners is supposed to be higher.
Official statistics cover the actual set of foreign population only partly and unevenly. It is reasonable to assume that there is a significant number of foreigners in the country without a valid residence permit. At present, no reliable estimations are available for the real number of foreigners staying in Hungary. For example, there is a sizeable Asian community, which presumably does not appear in the statistics. According to the statistics, the phenomenon of illegality is very significant in the 8th district as well.
Main groups of foreigners according to their country of origin
According to official statistics referring to foreigners with a residence permit, we can say that nearly two third (64 per cent) of the foreign citizens living in Hungary, nearly 100.000 persons, are from neighbouring countries. It is impossible to make an accurate estimation, but the majority of them are supposed to be ethnic Hungarians. Compared to the international scene, this is a special situation, since ethnic Hungarians constitute a non visible minority with basically the same cultural background as the native population (including command of language), therefore the issue of integration does not pose the same challenges as in the case of other groups. Approximately 12 per cent of foreigners, 18.000 persons arrived from Asian countries, most of whom, approximately 8.500 persons, adding up to nearly 6 per cent of the total foreigner population, are from China. The ratio of registered foreigners from the EU 15 countries is similar to the ratio of documented foreigners from Asian countries, 12 per cent. Foreigners from neighbouring countries, China and the EU 15 add up to 80 per cent of the total foreign population of Hungary and also comprise the majority of foreigners in the other territorial levels analysed (in the CH region 77, in Budapest 74, in the 8 th district 80 per cent of the registered foreign population). Thus these three main groups were the main focus of research. 8
Different groups of foreigners show different territorial distribution. Foreigners from the EU 15 countries live less concentrated compared to the respective ratio of the total foreign population (46 per cent of them lives in the CH region, 38 per cent in the capital compared to 56 and 43 per cent of the total foreign population), and beside the capital, they are overrepresented in the North Western part of Hungary, the most developed area of the country following the capital. Foreigners from neighbouring countries, most of whom are ethnic Hungarians show a lower level of concentration as well (52 per cent in the regional, 36 per cent in the capital level compared to the above mentioned 56 and 43 per cent), since based on the basically similar cultural background they can integrate more easily, in addition, they tend to have a stronger social network not necessarily in the capital, and settling close to the source country might be an advantage for them. On the other hand, the highest rate of concentration can be observed in the case of foreigners from China and Vietnam, nearly 90 per cent of this population lives in the CH region, almost all of them (87 per cent) in Budapest (many of them – 17 per cent of the Chinese and Vietnamese community of Budapest in Józsefváros). According to experts, migrants from geographically and culturally more distant countries are more likely to settle in the capital.
The relevance of Józsefváros in terms of foreign population lies not only in the relatively high ratio of the group but also in its composition. Similarly to other areas of Hungary, people from neighbouring countries, comprising mostly of ethnic Hungarians make up a significant population group amongst foreign citizens (more than 2500 persons registered), adding up to half of the foreigner population of Józsefváros, although their proportion is lower than it is at then national level. In the district Romanian Roma are also present. Meanwhile, Józsefváros hosts one of the most significant Chinese and Vietnamese communities in the capital, moreover, in the country (approx. 1700 persons according to official statistics, multiple according to non official sources). In addition, we must not forget that the district is the area of concentration for the Roma population as well. Also in the public perception of the district – which appears in the perception of its residents as well – multiethnicity is an important issue.
Age structure
The steady ageing of the population can be seen at all territorial levels of Hungary. The ratio of the population in the active age (between 15 64) is at present approx. two third of the total population. Meanwhile, the foreigner population of Hungary shows a generally younger age structure, partly reflected by a higher ratio of people in the active age (83.2 per cent) which is mostly linked to strong economic migration (most of the foreigners arrive in Hungary in order to work). The difference is most striking in case of young adults (between 25 44 years of age): in 2006 46 per cent of foreigners belonged to this age group, while in the total population they constituted only 28 per cent. The ratio of children under the age of 15 and people above 65 is significantly lower amongst foreigners (8 8 per cent compared to 16 and 15 per cent in case of the total population), thus the dependency rate of the foreigner population is also much lower than the same indicator for the total population (half of it). However, the tendency of ageing can be seen in the case of the foreigner population as well, since the ratio of those above 65 increased in the last ten years (from 5 to 8 per cent).
The various groups of foreigners of different origin show differing age structures. According to data from the year 2000, the ratio of children was higher than the national average in the case of foreigners from neighbouring countries, except for Romania, and significantly lower in the case of foreigners from Germany and China. The ratio of population above 65 was significantly higher in the case of foreigners from Germany (who are the largest community from the EU 15 countries). Their older age structure results from the fact that many German 9 pensioners move to Hungary. Some of them are descendants of Schwab people deported from the country after WW2, while many others got to know the country when lake Balaton was a main meeting point for people from West and East Germany.
The foreign population in Budapest tends to be younger – while the total population has an older age structure than the national average. As a result, only 43 per cent of the total, while 65 per cent of the foreigner population is in the active age. The difference is most striking in the younger active age groups, between 25 44 years, 51 per cent of foreigners while only 30 per cent of the total population belongs here. In Józsefváros the age structure of foreigners is similar to the municipal level, however, the age structure is even slightly younger. The ratio of the foreign population in the active age (85,0 per cent) is higher here than the country level average for foreigners (67 per cent). Meanwhile, the total age composition of the 8 th district is slightly younger than the Budapest average, partly due to the over representation of the Roma population, which has a younger age composition, in the area.
Despite the younger character of the foreign population in the capital and the 8th district, the ratio of children amongst foreigners is still below the level observed in the total population (9,7 per cent compared to 13), although it is on the rise (ten years ago it was only 6,4 per cent), and the rate of increase is faster than in the total foreigner population of the country. An important reason for the latter might be that Hungary has not been a target country of migrants for a long time, and thus a migrant community of a fuller age structure has not constructed itself yet. We can still witness second wave migration and second generation migration.
In Józsefváros, the significance of foreigners exceeds the national and the municipal level in all age groups. But they are mostly overrepresented in the young active age group, amounting to 10 per cent of this age group in the total Józsefváros population. This highly exceeds the proportion of all foreigners in the total population of Józsefváros (6,5 per cent).
Marital status and the state of families
At national level, the ratio of singles among foreigners (43 per cent) slightly exceeds that of the total population (40,3 per cent), and the ratio of married among foreigners (48 per cent) is also higher than it is in the total population (41,5). On the other hand, the ratio of divorced and widowers are lower in the foreign population (5 and 4 per cent) compared to the total population (8 and 10,2 per cent).
There are significant differences between groups of foreigners, e.g. in case of foreign citizens from neighbouring countries the ratio of singles is higher and the ratio of those married is lower than in other groups (45,4 45,4 per cent), while in case of foreigners from China, the majority (58 per cent) is married and the ratio of singles is less than average (39 per cent), while there are practically no widowers and divorced.
The higher ratio of singles can partly be explained by differences in the age structure of the foreigner and the total population (the younger age structure of foreigners). However, the differences may cover much more contrasting compositions of marital status within the various age groups, but unfortunately statistics on the marital status of the various age groups of the total and foreign populations could not be obtained. From the available data, we could probably conclude that foreigners in general are more likely to be married than the coeval members of the total population.
The differences between groups of foreigners in terms of marital status can partly be explained with the above mentioned differences in the age structure, however, the specific 10 situation of foreigners might also play a role. A part of foreigners (4,6 per cent of them) stay in Hungary as students (especially from neighbouring countries and the EU 15), others migrate alone and found their families in the host country, in addition, among foreigners in Hungary a significant number of temporary economic migrants can be found, especially from neighbouring countries, who spend a limited time in Hungary, working mostly either to support their families back home, or to substantiate their future lives in the source country (a part of this group commutes between Hungary and the source country).
Meanwhile, an increase in the ratio of residence permits issued for family unification (from 13 to 20 per of all permits issued between 2002 and 2006 1) and the ratio of foreigners with such a residence permit (from 3 to 7 per cent between 2003 2006) implies the presence of the process of second wave migration. In Budapest, the ratio of foreigners with a residence permit for family unification is higher than the national average, and is on the increase it grew from 5,7 to 9,6 per cent), which implies that Budapest is an important target point of second wave migration. On the district level unfortunately no data exist on the phenomenon of second wave migration.
In Budapest, the ratio of singles is slightly higher among foreigners (47 per cent), while the ratio of married is slightly lower (45 per cent). However, the family status does not show basic differences from the national level. The marital status of foreigners in the 8th district does not basically differ from the pattern observed at the municipal level. The slightly higher ratio of singles compared to the Budapest average probably results from the different age structure and different origin of the foreign population.
The number of marriages involving foreigners for 1000 foreigners strongly exceeds the number of all new marriages counted for 1000 persons in the total population, which can partly be connected to a large number of foreigners migrating alone and founding a family in the host country. However, in absolute terms, the ratio of marriages involving foreigners in of all marriages is still low, in 2006 it constituted 5,3 per cent of all marriages set. A part of intermarriages remain invisible, namely intermarriage between ethnic Hungarians and natives, which is supposed to be frequent.
The ratio of intermarriages is slightly higher in Budapest than the national average, although in absolute terms is still relatively low, 5,6 per cent. In Józsefváros, the ratio of intermarriages exceeds the national and municipal level, comprises 8,6 per cent of all marriages, which can be the result of the bigger concentration of foreigners in the district. In absence of relevant statistical data, the origin of persons involved in intermarriages cannot be provided. However, interviewees referred to intermarriages between Chinese or Vietnamese and Hungarian men and women, as well as between Arabic, African men and Hungarian women, but no intermarriages between Arabic women and Hungarian men, or between Chinese and Roma. According to the interviews, foreigners from the EU 15 usually do not tend to get married with natives; they either come with their families, or as singles, but only for a limited time to work here.
More on Józsefváros
As we have seen above, Józsefváros is the most significant concentration point of foreigners in Budapest, their ratio being the highest among all the Budapest districts and constantly on the rise. The image of Józsefváros is shaped to a great extent by foreigners, who reside and/or do business there.
1 Data could be obtained only for the 2002 2006 period. Source: http://www.bm bah.hu/statisztikak_HUN_25.xls 11
The socio-spatial structure of Józsefváros
Józsefváros is one of Budapest’s inner districts (for the parts of Józsefváros see Appendix 3 and 4). Its inner part, “Palotanegyed” or Palace Quarter (see Appendix) hosts a number of national and municipal level institutions (the National Museum, universities, libraries, the Hungarian National Radio etc.) and is a higher status area than the outer parts. Its middle part, between the Grand Boulevard (Nagykörút) and Fiumei and Orczy Roads (comprised of the Népszínház Quarter, the Csarnok Quarter, the Magdolna Quarter, Józsefváros Center, the Szigony Quarter and the Orczy Quarter) is a lower status area. The most problematic slum areas of Budapest are located here, especially in Magdolna Quarter and Orczy Quarter, with a high ratio of Roma residents (according to estimations, in Magdolna negyed, the ratio of Roma residents reaches 30 per cent.) However, the low property prices attract university students and young couples as well as foreigners with limited resources. This results in a much more diverse social environment than in other parts of the capital. At present different types of urban renewal programmes are being launched in the area. In the outer part of the district area consuming activities such as industrial plots, hospitals, cemetery, railway areas etc. can be found with enclaves of lower status residential areas, and two relatively closed, higher status areas. Ganz Quarter hosts the biggest Chinese market of the country.
The presence of foreigners in different areas
According to data of the 2001 census, Asians (mostly Chinese and Vietnamese) are overrepresented in the Szigony Street housing estate in middle Józsefváros. In addition, the presence of Asians is prevailing in the lower status areas of the district, in the “Magdolna Quarter”, as well as the Orczy Quarter. According to experts’ views, most of the African people living in the district reside in the Szigony Street housing estate, in private tenements. Unlike the above groups of foreigners, who tend to live in the lower status parts of middle Józsefváros, foreigners from the EU 15 – who are strongly underrepresented compared to their proportion in the capital’s society – live in the higher status inner part of the district. Foreigners – mainly ethnic Hungarians from Romania, still the most numerous group of foreigners living in the district – live dispersed, throughout the whole territory of the district.
Despite the relatively higher ratio and the specific composition of foreigners the development strategy of the district does not refer specifically to foreigners. In addition, statements of local officials suggest that the local government does not intend to treat the origin of residents as an important factor either in development or in the operation of local institutions and services. In most cases this approach is put in the context of an equal opportunities narrative by staff of the local government, “origin is indifferent for us” as a local official formed. In other cases it is linked to an approach where problems are placed in a general human dimension, where origin does not count as a factor.
Foreigners in the system of education and social services
Foreigners in the System of Education
Preamble
The main focus of the present section is the place of foreign students in the Hungarian school system, their proportion and impact on the total school population, national educational policies considering them, as well as attitudes towards them, and possible ways of their integration.
12 When considering all the above, a very unique phenomenon must be taken into account. In Hungary, most of the foreign citizen students are ethnic Hungarians from neighbouring countries, and their integration doesn't seem to pose difficulties, moreover, in many cases their "foreignerness” is not even recognised by their fellow students or teachers.
As for the number of non Hungarian foreign students, this is not significant in statistical terms in the country (approx. 3 4.000 persons), and their population does not seem to have a remarkable effect on the system as a whole. Nonetheless, as it will be shown, their distribution in Hungary is very uneven, and in certain areas and institutions (e.g. in particular in the 8 th district) their proportion highly exceeds the national average, which makes it necessary to develop a conscious, systematic pedagogical and methodological approach towards their education.
The question of integration in a changing educational system
Foreign students studying in Hungary are placed in an educational system, which has undergone fundamental transformations since 1989/1990. This rapidly changing school system also had to face new challenges brought about by foreign students appearing in its institutions.
Prior to 2002 compulsory education only concerned foreign children with residence permits and admitted refugees, then the Act on Public Education extended compulsory education to all non Hungarian minors with the same conditions as Hungarian citizens.
Hungary's accession to the EU initiated fundamental changes in the educational strategy for immigrants. Hungary accepted to provide discrimination free entrance and participation in the public education for all non Hungarian minors, and the Ministry of Education accepted a ten year migration strategy in September 2005. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education introduced an intercultural pedagogic programme for schools educating the children of migrants, which is the first document retracing concrete tasks related to the teaching and inclusion of non Hungarian students at schools. So far, the implementation of the programme does not seem to be very successful: only few kindergartens and schools implemented the programme, mainly in order to avail normative support, rather than to realise the pedagogic programme. It is partly a result of administrative problems: it is not education institutions themselves, but their maintainers, local municipalities who have to apply for the normative support, which poses organisational difficulties; bilingual schools and ethnic and national minority schools are also excluded from the set of eligible institutions; the low level of available support does not motivate institutions for going through the complicated application procedure. Due to these problems, the programme is currently under revision. However, beside administrative problems, the lack of relevant knowledge regarding the pedagogical and methodological instruments of an intercultural approach was also emphasized by interviewees.
Concerning the issues of integration, it must be noted that refugees and asylum seekers constitute a specific group of foreigners. Research shows that local residents as well as education institutions are less tolerant and inclusive near reception centres. Schools often reject the admission of refugees because they cannot cope with their specific needs and are afraid that they would cause problems in their educational and pedagogic work. In addition, in some cases parents of Hungarian pupils place schools under pressure to reject foreign children.
Trends in the number of school population
Hungary 13
The number of foreign students attending schools in Hungary increased by 250 per cent between 1996 and 2006, however, their number and proportion in the total school population is still limited: the number of foreign students seems to have stabilised around 12.000, which is 0,7 per cent of the total school population. At the national level, the ratio of foreign kindergarten and primary school pupils add up to 0,5 per cent of the total kindergarten and primary school population, and foreign secondary students add up to 1,2 per cent of the total population of secondary students.
It is important to note, that the number of foreign citizens studying in Hungary is probably higher than what the official data shows, because information on international schools were not accessible. Furthermore, we have to consider that there are foreign children, who are outside the educational system, because of they parents’ temporary stay or illegal status in the country. Unfortunately we do not have any estimation regarding the number of this population. It would be desirable to draw them into the educational system.
As for the distribution of non Hungarian citizen students among different school types, 49 per cent of foreign students can be found in secondary level institutions, 37 per cent in primary schools and 14 per cent in kindergartens.
As mentioned earlier, most of the foreign school population are ethnic Hungarians: their ratio in the foreign kindergarten population is 45 per cent, in primary schools 59 per cent, and the highest in secondary schools, 75 per cent, which reflects the mobility expectations of families: they want their children to continue their studies at Hungarian universities. Two third of the non Hungarian foreign students come from non EU countries, mostly from countries such as China and Vietnam. Only one third of the non Hungarian foreign students in public education come from the EU 15 countries.
Central Hungary region and Budapest
In spite of the deficiencies of the available data for lower territorial levels, it is clearly visible that the concentration of foreign students is the highest in the central Hungarian region and especially in Budapest: more than half of the foreign students are concentrated here, they add up to 1,3 1,5 per cent of the total student population in the area. Since 1996, the concentration of foreign students in these territories has increased. Furthermore, in comparison to the concentration of the total population of students, the concentration of foreign students in the CH region and Budapest is significantly greater (and the gap is constantly growing), which results partly from the increasing number and concentration of foreigners in the region, and partly from the decreasing birth rate of the area. Within the capital, schools also educate a higher number of foreign students especially in areas hosting a larger number of migrants such as the 8th, 10th, 11th, 13th and 14 th districts.
However, the concentration of foreign students is different at the various educational levels. 43,6 per cent of foreign secondary schools students can be found in Budapest, which is very similar to the concentration of the overall foreign population (43 per cent, as presented earlier in the report). This concentration is higher in the case of foreign primary school students (49,8 per cent), and it is the highest in the case of the foreign kindergarten population (63,8 per cent) – significantly exceeding the general concentration of foreigners.
The phenomenon might be understood better if we connect these numbers with some earlier mentioned trends regarding the foreign population. As we could see, the majority of foreign citizen students in Hungary are ethnic Hungarians, and their ratio is the highest (75%) in the secondary schools. At the same time, their distribution is less concentrated than in the case of other groups. The more balanced distributional pattern is true for the members of EU 15 14 countries. This may explain that the concentration of secondary school students is similar to the total foreign population. The reasons for the high ratio of kindergarten students could be further examined though.
The 8th district
The ratio of foreigners in the total kindergarten population of Józsefváros is high in Hungarian and even in Budapest comparison, 4,2 per cent, (more than twice as much as the ratio in the capital!) A possible factor contributing to this is a large Chinese Vietnamese population, where the ratio of secondary students may be much lower, and the ratio of kindergarten students much higher than in the case of other groups of the foreign population. In the district, 2.5 per cent of the primary school population and 1.6 per cent of secondary school students are foreign citizen.
If we see what proportion of the Budapest students can be found in Józsefváros, we will find the following: only 3.3 per cent of the children attending kindergarten in Budapest (natives and foreigners together) can be found in the district, while a double ratio (6.6 per cent) of the foreign citizen kindergarten pupils concentrate here. The disparity can also be observed at the primary school level, although the difference is smaller, 3.1 per cent of the total number of students, while 3.9 per cent of foreign citizen students studied in the district in 2005/6. The proportion at the secondary level is balanced: the ratio of the total student population equals the respective ratio of foreign students (8,8 per cent).
Translated into concrete numbers: according to statistics of the Ministry of Education in the school year 2005/2006 67 kindergarten children, 87 primary school pupils, and 188 secondary school students were found in the district. Unfortunately no data could be obtained for the year 1996.
Besides public schools, maintained mainly by local governments, private international schools also school foreign students in Budapest and its surroundings. In Budapest approx. ten of such schools can be found. The majority of the French and Spanish schools are native speaking. In the most expensive British and American schools the majority of the school population is recruited from the economic elite, i.e. children of diplomats and managers of multinational companies, while in the case of Austrian and German schools most students are Hungarians .
From the point of view of the 8 th district, out of these schools the Chinese Hungarian bilingual school is the most relevant. Most of its 125 students live in districts with a sizeable Chinese community, namely the 8 th , 9 th , 10 th districts nearby the Chinese market, as well as the 4 th and 13 th district, in the vicinity of a newly constructed Asian shopping centre.
The Approach of the Local Educational Institutions towards Foreigners in Józsefváros
Local institutions
Among the kindergartens and primary schools maintained by the local government of Józsefváros foreign citizen students could be found in 9 kindergartens and 6 primary schools in the school year 2005/2006. Some educational institutions of the district attract foreigners due to their location, in other cases foreign citizen parents are attracted by open minded, tolerant pedagogical programmes. It must not be forgotten, that ethnic Hungarian foreign students – both in the case of kindergartens and primary schools – are not always included in the statistics, which compromises the validity of the findings to a certain extent.
15 As for kindergartens, most of them school 1 5 foreign pupils, and the concentration of foreign pupils is by far the highest in three kindergartens. These kindergartens can be found in the outer, low status part of Józsefváros, schooling 19, 26 and 15 foreign students each. One of these three, the „Katica” kindergarten, analysed in more detail in the research, applies a special pedagogical approach, the main basis of which is inclusiveness. The higher ratio of foreign pupils is a result of their openness towards children with different types of specific educational needs, including children with learning disabilities, problems with communicative competence, as well as children from different countries. The institution intends to introduce the intercultural pedagogical programme of the Ministry, to enhance the transmission of the cultural heritage of foreign students.
In the primary schools where foreign students appear, their number usually does not exceed 4 8. The only exception is the Losonci Square primary school, located in the middle of the Szigony Street housing estate, where 23 foreign (17 Vietnamese and 5 Chinese) pupils are registered, by far the largest number in the district. (Not to mention the additional 3 ethnic Hungarians and the 10 15 children originating from intermarriages, all of whom speak Hungarian and are familiar with Hungarian customs and traditions.) The school takes steps to prepare for the reception of foreign children, they have an own pedagogic concept regarding foreign students. The school’s policy is to place foreign children into classes of their respective age group, and in case they cannot catch up, they repeat a grade. They also employ a teacher on contractual basis, for teaching Hungarian as a foreign language, and compile a specific report on the development of each foreign student with comments on their general development and a separate part regarding the development of their language skills.
However, all educational institutes analysed mentioned the high level of fluctuation of foreign children as a problem, e.g. i case of problems with business families of Chinese, Vietnamese students often move, in other cases children have to travel back to the source country to prolong their visa, or for family reasons etc. so children disappear and/or reappear even in the course of the schooling year.
Although as a consequence of the language difficulties, communication with foreign parents is not significant, teachers did not evaluate it as a nuisance, since in the case of important matters they are able to find interpreters. For the rest, they perceive the situation as Asian parents’ respect towards the school i.e. ‘they leave the system of education working without intruding into it or forcing their views on it’. In addition, parents back up by continuing their children‘s education.
The interviewees’ attitudes
It is typical for the teachers and institution leaders working in the 8 th district, that they present, interpret their attitudes toward foreign children in the same conceptual framework as their attitudes, experiences concerning the Roma minority (a significant minority in the district).
Leaders of pre school institutions (kindergarten and nursery) reported, that in early socialisation, foreign mother tongue does not cause any problem, and among younger children (between 0 6 years) kids are not prejudiced. It is only later, between 5 7, when they began to reject difference. A possible further task concerning intercultural education could be to work out tools and methodology helping older age students maintain open attitudes, which seem to be natural among adolescents.
16 Interviewed leaders of institutions and teachers generally reported positive experiences concerning non Hungarian foreigner children (mostly Chinese and Vietnamese) as well as their families. They found Asian children in many cases less problematic, than their “own” – i.e., non migrant – children (and in lots of cases they consider this their own pedagogical success). They agreed that Asian children are smart and intelligent, very disciplined, hardworking and talented, tidy and highly adaptable.
The interviewees’ opinion of Chinese people as hard working and diligent even makes acceptable in their eyes some habits otherwise rejected in the Hungarian cultural context, e.g. that they often employ “supplementary” grannies for their children (typically elderly or middle aged Hungarian women, who take care of them often at nights as well). However, in their narratives, especially in case of children of Asian origin an enthusiastic but often schematic, festive culture representation can be traced – a ‘culturalist discourse’ as it is labelled in a recent Hungarian research in particular in the narratives of ‘festive’ integration, e.g. a story about two Vietnamese boys, who played in Hungarian cockade and traditional costume of Hungarian cavalrymen in the school ceremony at 15 th March, (remembering the Hungarian revolution in 1848), or a story told by one of the headmasters about a Chinese girl who performs Hungarian folk dances. Such an approach may originate in – mainly unconscious and hidden – assimilative aspirations, which have a long tradition in the host society. It must be emphasized that the idea of integration concerning ethnic minorities and foreigners is still relatively new in Hungary, and change in the way people think is a very slow process. All this is reinforced by an approach perceptible parallel to the above in the interviews, i.e. lessening of differences, the number and significance of conflicts, nuisances related to foreign students – an “universalistic approach” according to the above referred research, which includes the conscious negation of differences and conflicts (especially ’outwards’), and in some cases it might also refer to the generalisation of problems and placing them in a ‘general human’ dimension, or to ’colour blindness’, when the person in question really does not perceive otherness.
Access to social services
The research dealt with two social services in detail, as the most relevant social services from the point of view of foreign residents, operated at the local level. Both services are helping families with small children. The crèches (day nurseries for 0 3 years old children) provide day care for working parents, while The Family Counselling Service (FCS), aims at taking care of families residing in the district, it intermediates between families and the local government in terms of social supports and other information, provides psychological, legal and other types of counselling, helps families to overcome social and psychical problems.
Créches in Józsefváros host children of Asian origin (mainly Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean) as well as from African origin, and probably ethnic Hungarians as well, but similarly as in the case of educational statistics the latter are invisible. The presence of migrants amongst the clientele of the FCS is insignificant. In most cases when refugees contact them for support, FCS turns to the Menedék Association for Migrants for help (an NGO helping migrants arriving to Hungary, see in detail the chapter on culture).
Foreigners with a long term resident status are formally entitled for all kinds of social support provided by the local government (e.g. as most relevant in case of foreigners, regular social assistance and temporary social assistance), however, according to local government representatives, the number of foreign applicants for such supports is minuscule, no more than a few cases in sum in the last years.
17 Housing situation of foreigners living in the district
Since after 1989/1990 most of the former public rental housing stock (the so called ‘council flats’) was privatised (tenants were offered to buy their tenements for a very small proportion of its real value) nowadays the overwhelming majority of the housing stock is in private propriety (95 per cent of the housing stock in the country level). The proportion of subsidised public rental flats in Budapest is 6 per cent, while in the 8 th district this proportion is relatively high, at present the local government owns some 6.800 flats, which comprises 17 per cent of the total housing stock of the district. However, foreign citizens – although they are formally entitled typically do not even claim for subsidised public rental flats. According to the findings of the study they tend to live either in their own properties or in – mainly officially not registered private rental flats. In addition to the rental of flats, the practice of rental of sleeping lots is also present, e.g. in Magdolna negyed one of the most run down areas of the district with higher ratio of foreigners – it happens that 10 15 persons – usually illegal migrant workers from Transylvania – sleep in one single flat, as bedsitters. Chinese live in better quality and socially more consolidated houses, in some of those by now the majority of tenants or owners are Chinese.
Foreigners in the economy
Preamble
The following section of the study focuses on the employment possibilities of foreign citizens and their effect on the local economy of the 8th district.
After the change of the political system in 1989, Hungary gradually on a lower scale as compared to Western European countries became not only a transit but a target country for economic migration.
The main characteristics of the Hungarian situation relating to migrant workers is quite unique due to the dominance of ethnic Hungarian employees who represent a special workforce on the labour market. They come from neighbouring countries (Romania, Slovakia and the Ukraine) and since they have no communication difficulties and are also quite flexible they are much sought after workers in many areas, such as the building industry, health care, agricultural seasonal work, domestic assistance. Their territorial distribution is quite balanced. Their importance is well illustrated by the number of work permits issued in 2006: most of the work permits, 33.140 general and 1.900 agricultural seasonal work permits were issued to Romanian citizens. The second largest number of permits was obtained by employees from the Ukraine: altogether 8.900 general and 280 agricultural seasonal work permits. 1.900 work permits were issued to workers predominantly ethnic Hungarians arriving from Serbia Montenegro.
The number of work permits issued in 2006 to Chinese employees was over a thousand, altogether 1.470. Officially about 6000 Chinese currently reside in the country as employees, however, based on qualitative information it is safe to say that their real number is multiple to that. These groups of migrants mostly concentrated on the CH area, especially in Budapest.
The third and smallest group is mostly from EU 15 countries, together with some other nationalities. Citizens of Germany received 710 work permits, while Austrian, French, American and Vietnamese employees obtained over 300 work permits altogether. Less than 300 employees received a work permit from the other countries.
18 In addition to the above, the phenomenon of illegal employment must be mentioned. At present, it is impossible to estimate the real number of foreigners involved in illegal employment, however the involvement of foreign population in informal economy and its effect on the local economy is tangible.
CH region and Budapest
The Central Hungarian Region is the centre of the Hungarian economy, with the highest number of industrial and commercial development projects. The production in this area accounts for 45 per cent of the GDP, however, it is important to mention that the share of Budapest is 35 per cent, while the share of Pest County without the capital itself is only 10 per cent. The dominance of Budapest and the favourable economic situation of the region can also be seen in the number of employees arriving from abroad. Out of the 52.505 general work permits issued in 2006, 40.412 permits were issued in the Central Hungarian Region.
8th district
The presence of foreign business operations and different enterprises is well noticeable in Józsefváros. Next to a variety of Chinese, Arabic and Turkish retail shops and fast food restaurants mostly located by the main streets, the district also hosts the largest Chinese market in Hungary – the Four Tigers Market. The market began to develop rapidly in the middle of the 1990's, since there was a great demand of cheap goods, mostly clothing and household appliances. It also served as a centre of distribution towards Eastern European countries. Nowadays beside the dominant Chinese and Vietnamese merchants some vendors from Arabic countries can also to be found here. We can also mention a relatively smaller and unnoticeable, but existing group of foreign employees in the market, namely the ethnic Hungarians from the neighbouring countries.
The economic effects of the Chinese market on the district
Negative effects of the market mostly appear on a macro economical level. Since the large territory of the market does not belong to the local government it does not benefit directly from the high income of the rent, so the local government perceives the Józsefváros Chinese market basically as a burden for the district. Besides that, the share of illegal trade is considerable at the market, despite regular raids held by various authorities. While at other markets experiences show that approx. 28 per cent of the merchants do not give a receipt, here the proportion on average was 76 per cent.
Positive effects can be observed mainly on a micro economical level: a large proportion of the local inhabitants gain direct economic advantages from the presence of Chinese migrants. First, numerous members of the Chinese community working at the market rent apartments, shops and stores in great numbers from the locals. Second, in many cases Chinese migrants can offer occasional jobs and women of the district frequently work for them as babysitters earning decent wages. In addition to that, these markets do have an important role in the retail trade in Hungary – according to research data in the latest years every fifth Hungarian has done some shopping at one of the Chinese markets operating in Hungary.
Of course we ought to mention the positive macro economical effects as well, such as the different types of taxes and general incomes of the local government collected from the entrepreneurs.
19 In sum, the economic impact of foreigners cannot be sufficiently estimated by "hard" quantitative/classical economic indicators. In the future new aspects as well as new quantitative and qualitative indicators should be added to the examination of this phenomenon.
Middle Eastern entrepreneurs in the 8th district
Beside Chinese business activity, in the past few years the number of entrepreneurs arriving from different Arabic countries has noticeably risen. They represent a rather closed group in terms of living and running businesses. Their network of business contacts rarely exceeds the limits of Arabic people living in Budapest. This is also indicated by the fact that the shops go from hand to hand. They have minimal contact with the local governments and NGOs. The most frequent and most popular activity among Arabic enterprises is the operation of fast food restaurants. Managers of popular kebab buffets include Egyptian, Iraqi, Syrian entrepreneurs. This is, however, not a local characteristic of Józsefváros, such small restaurants can be found in other parts of the city as well (most of them are owned by Turks, but more and more businesses have Arabic or joint management). Beside fast food restaurants there are shops serving the needs of the Arabic community living in Budapest, such as halal (Islam conform) butchers and grocery stores (however the latter are visited by the general public, as well as various caterers, seeking the ingredients of eastern cuisine that has recently become fashionable).
Possibilities of migrant enterprise development
Among the 300 members of the local branch of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Budapest (operating as a part of the national network) no foreign small enterprises can be found. Some corporate enterprises with foreign interest that are incorporated in Józsefváros have a chamber membership. However, apart from them, since the cancellation of compulsory membership, which took place in 2000, the local Chamber has only Hungarian partners. The chamber, however, does not turn down foreign entrepreneurs, but it either does not make any effort to involve them. In sum, foreign small enterprises fell out of the sight of the Chamber, one of the most significant interest groups aiming to promote enterprise development.
It is considered to be general that both the Chinese and the Middle Eastern entrepreneurs seek assistance within their own community for their business matters, in some cases specific business services have already been formed, focussing on respective migrant entrepreneurs. E.g. a relatively wide market based administrative network has formed in favour of serving the Chinese merchants (due to their greater number of employees and their capital force). Most of the companies offering such services are also of Chinese origin. Constantly growing Chinese business activity also indicates the presence of such specific services like the Bank of China , which opened its Budapest branch in 2002, where the clients can communicate in their native language. However, beside the general activities dealing with banking transactions they do not offer any counselling or investment consultancy helping their clients businesses to enter into the Hungarian economy, the only – albeit not insignificant – advantage the Bank offers to its clients is Chinese as the language of operation.
Regarding resources for further development, while foreign entrepreneurs are theoretically entitled to various grants promoting micro and small enterprises financed by EU sources, in practice they cannot obtain the benefits of these programmes. In the new programming period between 2007 2014 the small and middle size enterprises have priority; however, the intensity of the subsidies is higher in the economically less developed regions of the country. Consequently the micro, small and middle size companies mostly operating in the developed Central Hungarian region, which are in foreign ownerships and are typically with shortage of 20 cash have not much chance to apply for promotion assistance. Adding the administration which puts a way out burden even on the domestic entrepreneurs who do not have language problems and the fact that foreign businesses tend to have a different way of operation – e.g. in case of Chinese entrepreneurs the lack of formal accounting tends to pose a problem – it can be declared that the economic development programmes of the EU will not have a direct effect on the micro and small enterprises owned by foreigners.
Enterprises in foreign possession fall out from important non EU related enterprise development sources as well, e.g. the Budapest the Hungarian Foundation for Enterprise Promotion and the Budapest Enterprise Agency – both subsidised by the state, and aimed at the promotion of small and middle size enterprises in Hungary and in Budapest – do not deliver micro credits to foreign owners of enterprises.
The vast majority of the micro and small enterprises exclusively in foreign possession is not creditable at the commercial banks.
In the preceding years, a specific enterprise development initiative was launched with migrants as a highlighted target group: when founded in 2004, the Mikrohitel (Micro credit) Plc. had the ambition of promoting the foundation of enterprises by refugees staying in Hungary. The Mikrohitel Plc. cannot be considered as a traditional commercial bank or financial intermediary enterprise, it provides credit facilities to micro and small enterprises and NGOs that commercial banks do not reach. However, the Mikrohitel Plc. did not manage to carry out its first initiative among the migrants; it could only grant one group loan (where the borrowers of the loan give bail for each other in lack of cover) in its Pilot project in one single case to entrepreneurs from Cameroon. Each one of the six members of the group borrowed a 500.000 forint loan for a period of one year, however, they did not redeem their loan, they fell out of the sight of the Mikrohitel Plc. The primary target groups of the crediting activity of the Mikrohitel Plc. were in all cases determined by the organisations supporting the joint stock company. The UNHCR initially showed some interest towards the project, however, eventually the Mikrohitel Plc. did not obtain any financial subsidy aiming at migrant enterprise promotion either from this organisation or from any other resources, and therefore, after an unsuccessful attempt migrants fell out of the target groups of their crediting activity.
In sum, currently there are no credit facilities that focus on migrants as a target group. As a result, crediting transaction between individuals and enterprises is relatively widespread within certain communities. During the interviews some entrepreneurs were mentioned both within the Arabic and the Chinese community who carry out this kind of activity on a market basis (but not legally).
The cultural aspect of integration
Preamble
The relationship between social capital and the integration of migrants has received attention both in academic research and in policy making in recent years worldwide. One of them is the theory of Robert Putnam; according to his argument, associational life and civic participation supporting the creation of social links offer a solution for social problems related to inequality and exclusion. However, as opposed to earlier works that viewed all types of social capital equally beneficial, he distinguishes between two major forms: bonding and bridging social capital. The earlier refers to social relationships and associations established within homogeneous groups, while the latter describes social links built on common interests that
21 transcend social differences (ethnic, racial, gender etc.). Putnam considers bridging social capital more beneficial than bonding social capital, as he assumes that the latter might contribute to the fragmentation of social cohesion. A complementary social capital proposed by Woolcock and Narayan called linking social capital refers to the vertical connections that link associations with formal institutions, and thus provide possible economic and other resources for their operation. However, bonding, bridging and linking social ties do not occur by themselves: they are strongly shaped by the experience in the origin source and also in the host societies, as well as by the different goals and the different resources that are available for the newcomers and the hosts. This is why the critiques of Putnam (by Bourdieu, Portes) regard social capital not as a cure but as a tool that operates in parallel with other resources in the reconstruction of social inequalities. 2
In the research aimed to investigate how the terrain of culture is used by migrants to promote accommodation to the host environment in the framework of the above theoretical concept, by also focusing on the activities, attitudes and intentions of the hosts in relevant positions that might initiate or ban these activities.
Official approaches
During the research period various interviews were made with political stakeholders on different levels of decision making such as the national, the metropolitan and the district level. Although we could say that these different territorial and political units are affected on a different scale, still their general outlook shows lots of similarities. Altogether it can be declared that integration of the immigrants is not on the agenda of the relevant decision makers, and the issue is hardly ever mentioned on local or national meetings about cultural integration. Although the comment of one of the interviewees “whilst nowadays migrants are valuable for the city, sooner or later they will cause problems” projects that sooner or later the leadership of the city and the district have to deal with this issue on a more complex level.
When talking about migrants the interviewees mostly mentioned the programmes, cultural events related to any of the 13 officially recognised minorities living in Hungary and also the ones organised by them. On the local governmental level it turned out that the issue of culture itself has a disadvantaged role amongst the activities of the relevant department since it is responsible for education, culture, youth and sports at the same time, while the difficult financial situation of the district makes it nearly impossible for anything else beside educational activities to fit the budget of the department.
From the interviews conducted with political stakeholders it turned out that the issue of cultural integration of migrants was approached with a positive attitude, although no official actions were taken. This can most probably be understood as the lack of interest rather than ignorance, which is surely related to the low number of migrants present in the country as well as the particular composition of the local migrant population, as ethnic Hungarians are not classically understood as being immigrants needing to be integrated.
Institutions, organisations related to immigrants, foreigners
In Hungary the network of public cultural institutions are responsible for hosting the
2 For an extensive analysis see P. Cheong, R. Edwards, H. Goulbourne, J. Solomos: Immigration, Social Cohesion And Social Capital: A Critical Review, Critical Social Policy , 27(1), 2007, forthcoming
22 community activities targeted at self cultivation, knowledge acquirement, and artistic and other type of creation; as such they might play a central role in the promotion of migrants’ cultural activities. This role might be fulfilled in two ways:, organisations, associations, or other non formal groups might hire the infrastructure of these institutions in order to pursue their activities (bottom up initiation), or these institutions might organise events related to migrants (top down initiation).
Foreigner related top down attempts of 8th district and Metropolitan institutions, such as clubs, festivals, exhibitions, or concerts, in spite of the relatively large advertising campaigns, do not tend to attract numerous visitors. Regarding bottom up activities, Public Cultural Institutions have no archive concerning events organised by immigrants or foreigners when organisations, associations, or other non formal groups hire the infrastructure of these institutions in order to pursue their activities. Beside renting out the infrastructure these institutions are not interested in the programme or the activity itself, although the leaders of the immigrant organisations could in fact mention some programs hosted by these institutions. These places could serve as a perfect base for the inter or intracultural activities of several groups of immigrants, or minorities, but according to results of the research, except the attempts of some devoted individuals, the institutions basically play a passive role in these matters.
There was an interesting cultural initiative by the Chinese Embassy in 2001, namely the establishment of a Chinese Reading Room, by donating 60 70 Chinese books and offering subscriptions for newspapers and journals from China for the Szabó Ervin Public Library of Budapest on Guttenberg Square in the 8 th district.. The Reading Room still exists but in the library of the Pataky Cultural Center in Kıbánya, which is one of the outer districts of Budapest, (the district that hosts a substantial Chinese population), but the Chinese books are rarely read: the majority of the 15 20 Chinese persons turning up weekly are children reading Hungarian books for themselves or on rare occasions translating for their parents.
Intermediate organisations
Organisations, NGOs founded and operated by Hungarian persons for supporting refugees or migrants in general are also important actors in creating social ties between migrants and members of the host society. Being specialised in migration issues, they are more aware of the situation and needs of different migrant groups than general governmental organisations or public institutions; at the same time by having a host society background, they have a better knowledge of the Hungarian social environment, the local possibilities and the resources these migrants might turn to whilst adapting to the host society. Out of these organisations Menedék Association for Migrants is considered to be the most significant, an NGO representing international migrants and their interests towards society at large, as well as to decision makers. They also have different programs on sensitising the host society and making the presence of refugees visible. The Hungarian Language School , another devoted institution, operates according to a special model, namely, having refugees mixed together with other non Hungarians during various courses. Besides the courses, the school organises different events, where the students can become more familiar with Hungarian culture, and also place an emphasis on informing the host society about its immigrants. The Multicultural Association of Women in Józsefváros intended to create a place where different ethnic groups and migrants have the opportunity to get in contact with each other and with local Hungarian inhabitants; they also aimed to operate the association as the self help organisation for women seeking employment. Due to personal reasons the association temporarily suspended its operation, aiming to restart its activities in the near future.
Organisations specialised in supporting migrants have a central role in creating bonding ties, bridging connections between migrants and hosts and linking ties between migrants and 23 formal institutions on the field of culture. First, these professional organisations do have financial resources as well as knowledge and competence to organise wide campaigns in order to mobilise local people who would be otherwise less sensitive towards migrants and related issues. Second, these organisations have large informal networks in the official governmental organisations, and thus they might be the most efficient actors that can – though still at a very low level turn the attention towards migration related issues of stakeholders in decision making processes. Third, by their competence in migration related problems they also have the capacity to form and enhance cohesion between migrants themselves via cultural events. (E.g. The language courses and related cultural activities of the HLS is an interesting example of creating bridging ties between migrants, as these do transcend socio economic boundaries without excessively transcending boundaries between migrants and the local population.) Therefore, these organisations have a central role in creating bridging and linking capital between migrants, hosts and formal institutional actors.
Migrant Organisations
The Hungarian immigrant organisations
As stated earlier, ethnic Hungarian migration covers the greatest proportion of immigration to Hungary. These migrants are in a special situation compared to any other foreigners since on the basis of common language, common culture and common ancestry they are considered both by themselves and by others as belonging to the same ethnicity/nationality as the members of the host society. Based on this assumption, as well as on the political discourse on the importance of maintaining the Hungarian population in the native lands of the neighbouring countries, there is no formal attempt to promote the accommodation of ethnic Hungarian migrants into a new environment. Thus a great number of Hungarian immigrants have had to face the difficulties of moving without considerable formal support on the part of the host society.
The ethnic Hungarian organisations tend to fulfil multiple goals. First, they have to initiate and support the structural integration of newcomers: assist the migrants in the alien administrative procedures (which, until recent times was complicated even for those speaking the local language), Second, they have to assist the migrants in finding accommodation and a livelihood. Third, they usually aim to assure an environment where through common cultural programs and community activities, the Transylvanian or other outer border identities can be preserved. Fourth, they tend to support diaspora identities through diaspora activism: help migrants preserve ties with their original home society, and though various means and to various extents attempt to take part in and contribute to their development.
The research focused on two Hungarian immigrant organisations of the 8th district: the Domokos Foundation for the Hungarians across the borders targets its activities at ethnic Hungarian immigrants; they organise cultural festivals with the participation of Transylvanian artists and also meetings where recent and earlier members of the community can contact each other and maintain a network in their new environment. The other organisation, the Bocskai Alliance maintained by Transylvanian immigrant centres its activities around supporting the culture of the Hungarian minority of Transylvania. Beside its political activities aimed at influencing of decision making in both Hungary and Romania, the Bocskai Alliance also lobbies for the support of cultural institutions of the Hungarian minority in Romania (schools, orphanages, churches, museums).
The Domokos Foundation is more a diaspora type of organisation, which, although would have the resources and potential to attract locals, voluntarily directs its cultural activities almost exclusively towards Hungarian immigrants from neighbouring countries (mainly 24 Transylvanians), thus is considered to build rather bonding than bridging or linking ties. However, bonding ties might lead to an effective interest representation on different institutional levels. As opposed to them, the Bocskai Foundation orients itself rather to bridging and linking ties.
Chinese and Vietnamese Associations
As the great majority of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants live of trade and catering services whilst not speaking Hungarian well enough to understand and negotiate with their work environment in the host society, one part of their organisations’ activities is related to their economic interest representation, such as the Organisation for Culture and Interest Representation of Vietnamese Living in Hungary. It has the main task of representing the economic interests of the Hungarian Vietnamese community and is also responsible for organising the major cultural events, among these unquestionably the most important, the Lunar New Year held in February. Compared to their relatively small number amongst the Asian immigrants, the Vietnamese have several other associations, such as the Vietnamese Women’s Association , the Association of Vietnamese Traders and Entrepreneurs, the Vietnamese Student’s Association , and the Vietnamese Hungarian Friendship Society . These organisations beside promoting Vietnamese culture in Hungary also aim to promote the acceptance and understanding of Hungarian culture and traditions among its members. Although mainly establishing bonding ties, the association has the declared intention to build bridging relations with the host population.
In the 8 th district researchers have also found a special symbiosis of a Chinese and a local Hungarian congregation. These two churches remaining faithful to their pursued religious values, became an important spot for the establishment of bridging ties between Chinese, Hungarians, and Hungarian and African immigrants. Since its establishment in 1993 , the Reformed Church of Külsı Józsefváros accommodates one of the four Chinese Christian congregations in Budapest. In the beginning, for a few years the Chinese joined the Hungarian services with a translator, nowadays the services are organised separately, held in the same location, but at different times. The members of the two congregations meet at the main cultural events of the two churches: concerts, excursions, dance performances. In everyday life, the two congregations are mainly separated: besides these cultural events, ties are maintained basically with symbolic gifts interchanged between the leaders of the two churches.
Organisations dealing with Africans
Although the proportion of immigrants from Africa amongst foreigners living in Hungary is not significantly high, they seem to have much more organisations and seem to do more community activities than any other nationalities. The African community also feels itself to be like the one with the most links to Hungarian society. The different organisations focus on different objectives. General advocacy organisations deal with Africans living in Hungary and also with discrimination on the part of the autochthonous population. Such organisations are the Martin Luther King Organisation , founded in 1991 by students from Africa and their Hungarian supporters to defend foreign students against racist attacks and against bureaucratic or xenophobic reactions of governmental organisations (e.g. the police); the Afrique Inter Football Club, established in 2005, which aims to provide a terrain of social integration in Budapest via sports and culture, to fight against racism and social inequalities by being open to anyone, regardless of social background; as well as the Mahatma Gandhi Organisation , founded in 1992 to support refugees and refugee applicants in alien policing issues through legal representation and counselling. Activities of the latter were later extended 25 to cultural activism fighting racism and discrimination. Since 1994 further regular projects of the organisation include the Africa Festival in the summer and African New Year's Eve during wintertime. These programs are open to general public and present different spheres of African culture. The above organisations are considered to build both bonding and bridging relations.
Other organisations aim primarily at helping the regions and countries of origin of the migrants. Examples found by researchers are the Sahara Foundation, a cultural organisation, aiming to distribute knowledge in Hungary on the Sahara region, and vice versa on Hungary in the Sahara Region by supporting cultural and scientific expeditions, and the publication of their results in the Hungarian and African media, and the Foundation for Africa, which has similar goals: its main fields of activities include, first, supporting the development of Congo (e.g. building schools and orphanages), second, publicising this work in Hungary, third, distributing knowledge on Congo in Hungary. The cultural events organised by associations and foundations pursuing development in Africa have different aims: creating bridging as well as bonding ties with organisations and persons possibly contributing to the chosen goal, and popularising their activities and the targeted region among the autochthonous population.
However, in order to get an overall picture on the cultural presence of immigrants a fuller presentation of the opinions of the average city dweller would be needed, for his everyday impressions and personal experiences also shape the general attitude on immigrants. Visiting kebab shops and Chinese restaurants, listening to Peruvian music on the streets, participating in belly dance courses, wearing African clothes, doing tai chi exercises on Margaret Island, curing by acupuncture and being surrounded with ornaments, symbols and decorative objects have a huge impact – even if unnoticed on most of the host society‘s opinion on foreigners. Talking about these facts and making people more conscious of them would most likely influence the cohabitation of different ethnic communities in a positive way.
Conclusions and recommendations
The original aim of the research was the analysis of the impact of immigrants’ integration on local communities in the fields of demography, social services, economy and culture. However, analysis of the actual impact of foreigners, especially in quantitative terms – but also on the level of qualitative analysis – is almost impossible based on the available sources, thus the study – in order to develop a basis for further thinking – provides basically an overview on foreigners living and working in the 8 th district (and the higher territorial levels as a context) in the four areas under investigation, with references to the impact of foreigners where it is possible.
Although the available statistical data shows that at the national level, the ratio of foreigners is insignificant as compared to the international scene, the research provided evidence that as a result of the uneven geographical distribution of foreigners, namely their concentration in the CH region, especially Budapest, and primarily in case of the population of Asian origin, the 8th district, the presence of foreigners might be a significant issue on the level of localities, still not necessarily in terms of quantities – although the 8 th district indeed hosts a significant foreign population especially in the younger active age categories, where their ratio reaches 10 per cent – but in terms of their apparent appearance in some of the local institutions, the local – not necessarily formal – economy, as well as in the public perception.
Understanding the phenomena taking place in such a microenvironment can provide us with a number of important issues to be considered in connection with the presence and the integration of foreigners.
26 At the same time, it must also be mentioned, that the overrepresentation of the Chinese Vietnamese population in Józsefváros resulted in „overrepresented“ attention to them in the research, compared to other groups, especially foreigners from the EU 15 countries. All in all, the scope of the study seems to have been rather wide, forcing the researchers to narrow their focus.
Taking into account the issues above, it seems that in order to provide usable information, greater freedom ought to be given to researchers to use qualitative methods of examination. Hard quantitative indicators in themselves cannot always result in sufficient estimations and judgments.
Although these findings cannot be extended to the national level to a full extent, they can serve as a basis for further research and as useful tools aiding integration policies in the future. Thus we listed a few points, which should be considered by political stakeholders:
1. Reading the study one can face the fact that rounding the issue of integration is not as easy as it first seems. Since there are so many different groups of migrants with so many different aims or destinations their integration cannot be examined in the same context. Although Hungary – as it mentioned before become not only a transit, but a target country for economic migration – still a lot of foreigners, mostly Asians, after spending a few years here are moving towards other countries or back home, thus they do not even plan integration. The integration of another significant group of foreigners, the ethnic Hungarians also can not be examined in a usual way, partly because of their special relation and common ancestry with Hungary as it was mentioned earlier. In their case it is also important that many of them move in and out of Hungary depending on what jobs can be found, and most of the members of this group after earning enough money to buy a house and start an easier life are moving back to Transylvania. Obviously the issue of integration appears on different scales and must be handled from different points of view.
2. Related to the question above comes up the issue again from another aspect, such as the migrants‘ wish of integration, since, in the case of Hungary the so called „temporary migrants“ often do not show any attempt of being integrated into the host society. Beside this fact we have to admit that the host society itself is not being the most open and welcoming and mostly requires assimilation as a way of co habitance. As a result, the processes of integration what presume the activity of all related actors, do not seem to materialise. The research also found references about the presence of some „self governmenting attempt“ among –especially Chinese foreigners for the settlement of financial and other disputes.
3. Another difficulty related to integration policies and attempts is that foreigners originated from the same countries not necessarily form a „community“, in many cases they are not even closely connected. The members of the host society and political stakeholders are also liable to treat migrants coming from the same countries as the „members of one big family“ and can not accept that they might be connected on different basis. Policy makers should be aware of this fact and pay respect to it when inventing strategies and working out programs related to the integration of foreigners. The consideration and the support of bottom up organisations and events would be a flexible solution for this question.
4. The seemingly neutral “ Until they do not cause trouble, we don’t deal with them ” approach of recent years needs to be altered. A more intensive integration policy should not only begin when serious problems occur, or the number of foreigners starts to increase steadily. What’s more, a way of preventing serious troubles, xenophobia, 27 or clashes between the host society and the foreigners is to create strategies and consciously shape relations and routes of integration, taking a proactive role. The aim is to develop a positive approach towards immigrants, giving up the good old – mostly unconscious assimilationist attitude. This way, the integration and life of foreigners already living here can positively affect the members of the host society, as well as newcomers, serving as a positive model.
5. The presence of foreigners has positive economic aspects, mostly on micro economic level, since a lot of local inhabitants have direct incomes related to them. Taking this into consideration and enhancing an awareness raising process would alter the prevailing „Their profit is not our profit“ way of thinking. Confronting the local decision makers (mostly negative) views on the economic aspects of the presence of foreigners with the positive aspects of their (economic) presence may present a different approach. In the future, this would be worth considering and maybe examining since it might be useful and economically rewarding for both (the host and the migrant) sides to fully channel foreign businesses more into the mainstream economy. Furthermore, this may contribute to "whitening" these businesses.
6. Cooperation and the sharing of experiences and knowledge between state institutions and NGOs, as well as greater support for NGOs and bottom up organisations would be essential. The cultural and social integration of immigrants is impossible without these organisations. Furthermore, specialised NGOs ought to form a more up to date network with other NGOs helping to circulate information.
As a general conclusion we could say that conducting of such a research and the publication of its findings could enhance the tolerance and understanding of the political stakeholders and the members of the host society as well.
28 Appendix
Appendix 1. Districts of Budapest, the location of the 8th district
Appendix 2. The regions of Hungary
29 Appendix 3. The location of Inner, Middle and Outer Józsefváros
Appendix 4. Quarters of Józsefváros according to its development strategy
30 Thematic studies Technical Introduction
Territorial coverage
In case of Hungary the focus of the research was the 8 th district of Budapest, Józsefváros. Selection of target area was based on already existing data and information referring to the high ratio of migrants residing and/or working in the district compared to other areas of the capital and even the whole country.
However, in order to put the situation in Józsefváros in context, we paid attention to the situation in relevant higher territorial levels as well, such as Hungary itself, the Central Hungary region and Budapest. Therefore all of the thematic studies refer to four territorial levels: Hungary Central Hungary region Budapest Józsefváros
Of course the relative significance of territorial levels might vary according to the respective issue, which is reflected in the thematic studies (e.g. in case of housing the regional level, even more, the municipal level is considered to be less relevant). However, the focus of the analysis is in all cases Józsefváros.
Methodology
In the course of the research both quantitative and qualitative techniques were applied.
Quantitative methods
Quantitative data was requested from relevant organisations identified by the research team. . The set of data required strictly followed the set of indicators agreed by the project managers, with additional requests with regard to the local context.
Dat was requested from the following organisations: 1. the Central Statistical Office of Hungary (CSO) 2. the Office for Immigration and Nationality of the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement 3. the Ministry of Education and Culture 4. the Employment Office of Hungary 5. the local government of the 8 th district, especially 5.1. the department of population administration 5.2. the department of education, culture, youth and sports 5.3. the department of housing 6. Educational and social institutions of the 8th district 7. RÉV 8 Plc. the company in charge of urban renewal projects in Józsefváros
In case of Hungary it is important to know that the country has very strict data protection regulation, especially in the field of national and ethnic origin. The latter are considered as 31 sensitive data, forbidden to collect or process without the explicit consent of the concerned person 3. For that reason, data collection on these issues is very limited. In addition, some organisations approached – especially the local government – referred to the “insignificance” of national and ethnic belonging as a reason for the lack of statistics (even if data are collected e.g. on the place of birth, they are not aggregated), while due to data protection individual records could not be approached.
Although in many cases following long and bureocratic routes, all of the above organisations provided the data they possess, with the important exception of the department of population administration of Józsefváros. However, in order to avoid significant data shortfalls, in cases where it seemed relevant, we issued compound data requests, that is, we requested the same data from more organisations (e.g. the CSO and the Józsefváros local government). As a result, most of the relevant data not provided for us by the local government was later obtained from the CSO.
Qualitative methods
However, since the set of accessible quantitative data and – according to previous research experiences – the validity of such data was limited, strong emphasis was put on qualitative methods as well, such as analysis of existing literature and a series of interviews. The interview guidelines were partly based on the indicators structure agreed by the project managers, in order to obtain experts’ estimations on missing data. Their other part aimed to obtain more complex information, with regard to the issue in scope, especially referring to the co habitation and conflicts of different population groups, the opportunities and problems of integration.
As agreed by the project managers, in addition to interviews with competent persons from the 8th district (local government, urban renewal company, NGOs etc.) a set of “contextual interviews” were made with different kinds of experts (researchers, colleagues of relevant ministries etc.) in order to obtain more comprehensive data and information, which was essential in order to put the situation in Józsefváros in context. In addition, if it was considered as necessary, interviews were made with members of the respective communities as well (either from the 8 th district or from outside, as “contextual” information).
The list of interviewees:
Interviews covering all issues: Sándor Erdısi Jr. counsellor of Józsefváros Krisztina Keresztély, former researcher of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, leader of a former research ’Chinese in Budapest’ (contextual) Zoltán Tábori researcher, journalist, at present making detailed research on Magdolna negyed, Józsefváros
Demography: Zoltán Pintyi police major, deputy head of the Police Office of Józsefváros; Ferenc Wieszt police captain, assigned leader of the department in charge of the defence of public order of the Police Office of Józsefváros; Norbert Baricska first lieutenant, assigned leader of the department for investigation of the Police Office of Józsefváros
Social issues:
3 For details see the National Annual Report 2005 of the Hungarian NFP for the EUMC (to be put on the web soon, at http://www.mtaki.hu) 32 Dr. András Forgács, deputy head of department, Ministry of Education, Department for Public Education (contextual) Gusztávné Lindner director, Hungarian Chinese bilingual school (contextual) Imre Novák, official of the Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports of the local government of the 8th district Judit Koscsóné Kolkopf, official of the Department of Social Affairs of the local government of the 8th district Ferencné Scheer, leader of the Unified Crèches’ Institution of Józsefváros Ildikó Daróki, leader of the Family Counselling Office of Józsefváros Csilla Stenczinger, director, Losonczi square primary school Sándorné Schrancz, director, Németh László school Klára Kakuja, leader, Katica kindergarten Gyula Szabó, colleague of Kévés and Co., the planner, constructor and operator of Orczy Forum Róbert Rimár, deputy head of department, Department of Housing of the local government of the 8th district
Economic issues: Elek Bonyhády, president of the 8th district branch of the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry (contextual) Tibor Béres, colleague of Mikrohitel Plc. (contextual) Ferenc Gergely, head of Edmon Ltd. dealing with employment exchange for foreigners Gu Zhong Yao, executive director of the Chinese Commerce and Information Centre Ltd. Munir, kebab vendor Emad, kebab vendor, hairdresser
Culture:
Péter Kirschner counsellor on culture, Municipality of Budapest (contextual) Associates of the Ministry of Education and Culture (contextual) Associates of the National Culture Fund (contextual) Györgyi Kovács, associate of the Pataky Culture Centre (contextual) Tibor Kardos, associate of the Municipal Culture Centre (contextual) Zsuzsa Vadóc, associate of the Budapest Culture Centre (contextual) Dr. István Kreczinger president, Bocskai Association (contextual) István Domokos, Domokos Foundation (contextual) Dr. Bui Minh Phong, president, Organisation for the Culture and the Representation of Interests of Vietnamese living in Hungary (contextual) Nelson Victor, member of association, Afrique Inter FC (contextual) Szliman Ahmed, president, Sahara Foundation (contextual) Márton Tóth, associate of Foundation for Africa (contextual) László Roxin, president, Rumanian Association of Budapest (contextual) Gibril Deen, president, Mahatma Gandhi Association (contextual) Ilona Koháry, founder, president, Hungarian Language School (contextual) Attila Mészáros, board member, Menedék – Association for Migrants (contextual) Imre Novák, official of the Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports of the local government of the 8th district (with him two separate interviews were made, one for the thematic study on social issues and one for the study on cultural issues) Miklós Molnár, member of the Committee on Education and Culture of Józsefváros between 2002 2006 Vera Hárs, president, Multicultural Association of Józsefváros Women (Józsefvárosi Nık Multikulturális Egylete) Wife of Emil Kovács, pastor of the Reformed Church of Outer Józsefváros Kong Xia Chen, member of assembly, Chinese Christian Church 33 I. The presence of foreigners and their impact on the demographic situation
Hungary
Population dynamics and the presence of foreigners
The population of Hungary is decreasing since the beginning of the ‘80s. The population census found approx. 10,37 million people in 1990, 10,2 million people in 2001, in 2006 Hungary counted 10,08 million residents, as a result of natural decrease, originating from medium level of fertility and high level of mortality rates.
Since 1988, the beginning of transition, immigration to Hungary appeared (prior to 1988 it was practically non existent due to the political framework and administrative limitations 4) and is on the increase, at present it compensates only a part of natural population loss. While the yearly rate of population loss in the last ten years characteristically exceeds 0,3 0,4 per cent of population, the yearly population increase due to immigration was approx. 0,15 per cent in the second half of the ‘90s, then since the beginning of the new millennium it gradually grew to approx. 0,18 per cent 5. At present, the ratio of foreign population in Hungary is estimated to 1,5 per cent of the population, a much lower level than in Western European countries, a phenomenon important to stress in case of international comparison. However, due to natural decrease and the parallel process of immigration (foreign population being younger and more active than natives, as presented below) the ratio of foreign population in the total population is slowly growing, in 1996 it was 1,37 per cent, 140.000 persons while in 2006 1,53 per cent, 154.000 persons, therefore their impact in the country’s demographic character is also on the increase. In addition, it is reasonable to assume that there is a significant number of foreigners in the country without a valid residence permit. According to an estimation, in the mid 90s the number of the latter group equalled the number of documented foreigners, for the present situations no reliable estimations are available.
Since 1990 Hungary is acting partly as a transit and partly as a target area of international migration. Throughout the period, the most significant group of immigrants settling in the country arrived from neighbouring countries, most of them are ethnic Hungarians 6 (according to a study on the situation in 2001, approx. 80 per cent of Romanian citizens living in Hungary was of Hungarian ethnicity, in case of states of former Yugoslavia it was 70 80 per cent and decreasing, in case of the Ukraine 50 60 per cent and increasing 7). The second, smaller but important population group comprised of people from Asian countries, mostly China and Vietnam.
4 Only limited forms of immigration existed e.g. settling down of former university students from countries of the third world, we do not have estimations for the scale of the phenomenon. 5 http://www.nepinfo.hu/index.php?m=838&id=2467&page=2 . In line with the project description the analysis refers to foreigners residing in Hungary with a residence permit. However, in case the sake of the analysis makes it reasonable, we also refer to undocumented migrants (especially in the chapter on economy) or other categories of foreign origin population e.g. naturalised persons (especially in the chapter on culture). 6 As a result of the Trianon Treaty numerous Hungarian communities live in the neighbouring countries, based on census data of the relevant countries their number is estimated to 2,5 million (Gyurgyík László (2005): A határon túli magyarok számának alakulása az 1990 es években, in: Magyar Tudomány, Vol. CXI No. 2. pp 132 134, also available at http://www.matud.iif.hu/2005 02.pdf). 7 Dr. Lukács Éva – Dr. Király Miklós: Migráció és Európai Unió (2001) http://www.euvonal.hu/index.php?op=tenyek_hatteranyagok&ha=3&id=131 Budapest: Szociális és Családügyi Minisztérium 34
In the very first years immigration to the country was dominated by ethnic Hungarians especially from Romania. Between 1988 and 1992 more than 118.000 persons arrived to the country from Romania, many of them were naturalised in the following years, 45.000 persons between 1988 and 1994 8. In the last ten years the annual number of people obtaining Hungarian citizenship varied between 3.000 10.000, still dominated by ethnic Hungarians. Naturalised persons obviously do not appear in the stock of foreign population any more.
In the first part of the ‘90s a wave of immigrants arrived from states of the former Yugoslavia, mostly ethnic Hungarians (but also Croats, Muslim Bosnians etc.) fleeing from the Yugoslavian war. 70.000 people arrived between 1991 and 1994, many of them returned after the end of the war.
Meanwhile, since visa obligation for Chinese citizens was lifted in 1988, parallel to China’s policy of opening up, a wave of Chinese immigration reached the country, an estimated number of 30 40.000 Chinese citizens arrived to Hungary until visa obligation was re introduced in 1992 9. Since then, immigration from China continued but its level dropped.
Until 1997 immigration to Hungary slightly decreased, but since the end of the ’90s, linked to Hungary’s EU accession and economic development international migration began to increase, and the composition of immigrants changed, including a growing number of citizens moving to Hungary from Western European countries, many of whom arrived as managers of multinational companies. From time to time wave of migrants from other areas e.g. from Africa, other parts of Asia (e.g. Afhganistan) etc. also reach the country, however, in lower scale, and usually temporarily (for the latter groups Hungary serves mainly as a transit country).
Main groups of the foreign population according to country of origin
As a result, according to official statistics referring to foreigners with a residence permit, nearly two third of foreign citizens living in Hungary are from neighbouring countries (nearly 100.000 persons, mostly Hungarians), approx. 12 per cent (18.000 persons) arrived from Asian countries (8 per cent from China and Vietnam, approx. 12.000 persons) and a similar ratio, 12 per cent of foreigners, arrived from the EU 15 10 countries. Compared to the situation ten years ago, the ratio of foreigners from neighbouring countries remained practically stable, while the ratio of foreigners from the EU 15 as well as those from China and Vietnam increased (from 9,3 to 11,9 per cent for EU 15 citizens, from 4,0 to 7,6 per cent for Chinese and Vietnamese). However, it is safe to say that official statistics cover the actual set of foreign population only partly and unevenly, e.g. foreigners from the EU 15 are supposed to be more visible in official statistics, while there is a sizeable Asian community which presumably does not appear in the statistics (one of the most well known experts, Pál Nyíri
8 Ekéné Zamárdi Ilona (1998): Magyarország részvétele az új kelető nemzetközi migrációban, in: Bartha Györgyi (ed.) Budapest, nemzetközi város, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, p 183 203. 9 http://www.oki.hu/oldal.php?tipus=cikk&kod=Jelentes2006 19_egyenlotlenseg 10 As a conseqence of the specific migration patterns of Hungary discussed above, presenting data for the EU 25 (including Slovakia and Slovenia) would hide relevant information on migration from neighbouring countries. In order to provide a relevant view on the migration processes in Hungary, we provide data for the EU 15 and neighbouring countires separately (the latter group includes Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Ukraine, Croatia, Yugoslavia – Austria is of course counted to the EU 15). Out of the two newest member states Romania is the most important source country of migrants (see details throughout the study) while the prescence of foreigners from Bulgaria is insignificant, we do not even have separate statistics for the latter group (they are included in the “other European” category). 35 estimates the actual number of Chinese to approx. fifteen thousand 11 , the head of the Chinese Commercial and Information Centre estimates that 18.000 Chinese live in the country, compared to 8.500 persons indicated by the official statistics, however, higher estimations go as far as to a hundred thousand 12 ). In international comparison it might be important to note that no significant Muslim communities exist in Hungary, according to the population census the ratio of Muslims comprises less than 0,005 per cent of the population of Hungary (5777 persons), experts estimate it to 0,02 0,05 per cent at highest (20.000 50.000).
100% 90% 24,8 28,2 29,6 23,7 80% 70% 6,5 10,5 13,0 60% 29,0 50% 40% 57,6 49,5 44,8 30% 41,1 20% 10% 11,0 11,8 12,6 6,3 0% Hungary Central Budapest 8th district Hungary EU-15 neighbouring China and Vietnam other
1. Figure: Foreign population according to citizenship, 1998
11 Nyíri Pál (2002) Új ázsiai migráció kelet európába: a magyarországi kínaiak http://www.mtaki.hu/docs/ter_es_terep_02/t_es_t_02_nyiri_pal_uj_azsiai_migracio.pdf 12 http://www.gondola.hu/cikkek/42624 . The latter is supposed to be a strong overestimation since it would mean that less then one out of ten persons are registered while a set of administrative procedures, including rental of business facilities, education of children etc. needs documentation. 36
37 100% 13,4 90% 17,0 19,4 21,1 80% 7,6 11,9 70% 15,4 32,9 60% 50% 63,5 40% 58,9 52,9 30% 49,1 20% 10% 11,9 9,8 10,5 0% 4,5 Hungary Central Budapest 8th district Hungary EU-15 Neighbouring China and Vietnam Other
2. Figure: Foreign population according to citizenship, 2006
Age structure
The population of Hungary undergoes steady ageing, in the last ten years the ratio of population above 65 increased by 1,6 per cent, while the ratio of children below 15 decreased by 2,6 per cent, and the ratio of population in active age (between 15 64 13 ) decreased accordingly, by one per cent, at present it is approx. two third of the population. Meanwhile, amongst foreigners, the ratio of persons in active age is overwhelming, 83,3 per cent, although a bit less than in 1996 (85,6 per cent), strongly linked to strong economic migration (most of the foreigners arrive to Hungary in order to work). The difference is most striking in case of young adults (between 25 44 years of age): although their ratio slightly dropped in the last years, it still significantly exceeds the proportion of the 25 44 years old in the whole population: in 1996 more than half of the foreigners, 51 per cent, in 2006 46 per cent of them was between 25 44 years, while in case of Hungary it is only 29 and 28 per cent, respectively. The ratio of children and especially people above 65 is significantly lower amongst foreigners, thus the dependency rate of the foreigner population is much lower. However, ageing can be seen in case of foreigner population as well, the ratio of those above 60 14 is steadily increasing. The foreigner population shows a higher ratio of males than the total population (50 per cent compared to 47,5 for the total population), however, the ratio of males decreased in the last decade (in 1996 it reached 53 per cent).
13 The data presented here had to be adapted to the categories provided by the CSO. 14 Time series were provided in a breakdown different from the previous data
38 100% 4,6 8,4 14,2 15,8 90% 16,2 80% 22,7 24,0 70% 27,0 60% 51,1 50% 28,0 46,2 40% 28,9 30% 15,9 20% 18,3 12,9 14,3 10% 18,0 15,4 9,8 8,4 0% Total 1996 Foreigners Total 2006 Foreigners 1996 2006 0-14 15-24 25-44 45-65 65+
3. Figure: Age structure of the total population and foreigners, 1996, 2006, country level
Groups of foreigners of different origin show different age structure. Although we could not obtain up to date data, a study analysing the 1990 2000 period found that in 2000 the ratio of children was higher than the country average in case of foreigners from neighbouring countries except for Romania, and significantly lower in case of foreigners from Germany and China. The ratio of population above 65 was significantly lower than the country average in all groups, except for foreigners from Germany (the latter is the most numerous community from the EU 15 in Hungary, the older age structure is result of the fact that many German pensioners move to Hungary – some of them are descendants of Schwab people deported from the country after WW2, while many of the others got to know the country when the Balaton area was the primary meeting point for people from West and East Germany).
As a result of the different age structure, the presence of foreigners differs in specific age groups: it is well beyond average among the 25 44 years old, 2,45 per cent in 2006, while significantly lower then average in the youngest and oldest age groups, only 0,83 and 0,81 per cent in 2006. However, ageing of foreigner population can be observed from this perspective as well: ten years ago the presence of foreigners in the 65+ age group was only half of the present ratio.
Marital status
The composition of foreign population in terms of marital status does not seem to change, 48 49 per cent of foreigners is married. In case of the total population, the ratio of married is significantly lower, 41,5 per cent. Meanwhile the ratio of singles among foreigners nearly equals the ratio of married (43 44 per cent), which exceeds the ratio of singles in the total population (40,3 per cent). Amongst foreigners, the ratio of divorced and widowers is lower (4, 5 per cent) compared to the total population (approx. 8 and 10 per cent).
However, there are significant differences between groups of foreigners: in case of foreign citizens from neighbouring countries the ratio of singles is higher and the ratio of those married is lower than in other groups, while in case of foreigners from China, the majority is
39 married (58 per cent although a bit less than some years ago, in 2001 it was 60 per cent), the ratio of singles is less than average 15 , and there are practically no widowers and divorced. (The situation is different for Vietnamese, with less married – 46 per cent – and more singles, 51 per cent, some years ago the ratio of the groups was equal, thus the ratio of singles increased a bit). In case of the EU 15 citizens, compared to 2001, the ratio of those married is decreasing (from 55 to 50 per cent) while the ratio of singles increases, supposedly in line with more students arriving to the country from the EU 15 states. Unfortunately we have relevant data only since 2001 thus no long time series can be analysed, no substantial changes can be observed between the two dates.
100% 4,9 4,9 5 4,9 3,9 3,4 3,2 2,9
80%
47,8 45,9 44,7 44,6 60%
40%
45,9 47,1 47,6 20% 43,4
0% Hungary Central Hungary Budapest 8th district single married widower divorced
4. Figure: Marital status of foreigners in different territorial levels, 2006
The differences between the native and foreigner population, as well as between groups of foreigners result in part from differences in age structure, and in part from the specific situation of foreigners. The younger age structure partly explains the higher ratio of singles as well as the lower ratio of divorced and widowers. However, according to analyses, among foreigners in Hungary a significant number of itinerant (in fact rather commuting) migrants can be found, especially from neighbouring countries, who spend a limited time in Hungary, working mostly either to support their families back home, or to substantiate their future lives in the source country. In other cases first wave migration of family members seeking for employment and settling down in the country is followed by a second wave migration of family members, this process was prevailing e.g. in case of Chinese migrants especially in the ‘90s. The latter is supported by the fact that the ratio of residence permits issued for family unification is growing, from 13 to 20 per cent of all permits issued between 2002 and 2006 16 (4850 and 8466 residence permits for family unification, respectively), as a result, the ratio of foreigners with residence permit for family unification is on the increase (from 3 to 7 per cent between 2003 2006). In addition many of the foreigners migrate alone and found their families in the host country, it seems to be supported by the fact that the number of marriages
15 According to studies on the Chinese community in the ‘90s, unlike Western Europe where larges families migrated together, in Hungary individuals came first and were followed by family members later, in other cases Chinese migrants founded their families here (Keresztély Krisztina (1998): A kínai közösség Budapesten, in: Bartha Györgyi (ed.) Budapest, nemzetközi város, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, pp 203 221.) 16 Data could be obtained only for the 2002 2006 period. Source: http://www.bm bah.hu/statisztikak_HUN_25.xls
40 involving foreigners for 1000 foreigners strongly exceeds the number of all new marriages counted for 1000 persons in the total population. 17 However, in absolute terms, the ratio of marriages involving foreigners in of all marriages is still low, in 2006 it constituted 5,3 per cent of all marriages set (2366 marriages out of approx. 44.500).
Central Hungary region
The geographical dispersion of foreigners in Hungary is very uneven; most of them are concentrated in the most developed part of the country, the Central Hungary region and especially in the capital, Budapest. Moreover, the rate of concentration of the foreign population increased both in regional and in the capital level, except for foreigners from the EU 15.
Population dynamics and the presence of foreigners
While the population share of the Central Hungary region remained more or less constant in the last ten years, approx. 28 per cent of the total population – with the parallel processes of natural decrease and positive (mainly internal) migration balance 18 – its share in the foreigner population increased: while in 1996 46 per cent, in 2006 56 per cent of foreigner population lived in the area, in other words, the concentration of foreigners in the CH region is twice as strong at present as the concentration of the total population. (The rate of concentration increased in all analysed groups of foreigners except for foreigners from the EU 15.)
Even more interesting is that while the population share of the capital significantly decreased in the last ten years, from nearly 19 per cent to 17 per cent of the total population, partly due to natural decrease, partly as result of suburbanisation processes, its share in the foreign population ceaselessly increased, from 35 to 43 per cent. As a result, approx. 87.000 foreigners reside in the CH region, out of which 66.000 lives in Budapest.
However, the level of concentration is different for different groups of foreigners. Foreigners from the EU 15 countries live less concentrated (according to the literature, besides the capital, they are overrepresented in the North Western part of Hungary, the most developed area of the country following the capital), just as foreigners from neighbouring countries. The reason of the latter is that most members of the group are ethnic Hungarian, therefore language and cultural differences basically do not play a role, their social networks are stronger, not necessarily linked to the capital, in addition, being close to the source country might be an advantage for these families (e.g. in terms of maintaining relations with family members who stayed). On the other hand, the highest rate of concentration can be observed in case of foreigners from China and Vietnam, nearly 90 per cent of this population lives in the CH region, practically all of them in Budapest.
17 Since we do not know how many foreigners are involved in marriages involving foreigners, in other words, whether both parties are foreigners or only one of the parties, exact data cannot be given, however, the difference is prevailing. 18 In terms of absolute numbers the CH region underwent a slight – 1,25 per cent – decrease of population, in line with the main demographic trends of the country.
41 100 88,6 90 86,8 80 70 60 56,4 52,3 46,4 50 42,8 37,8 35,6 40 30 20 10 0 EU-15 Neighbouring China and Total Vietnam concentration in CH region concentration in Budapest
5. Figure: Concentration of different groups of foreigners in the CH region and Budapest
The above data imply that most of the foreigners living in the CH region live in fact in the capital, only a smaller proportion can be found in its surrounding area (it refers even to people from EU 15 and neighbouring countries) therefore more detailed data would be presented for the capital below.
60 56,4
50 45,9
40
28,3 30 27,9
20
10
0 1996 2006 total population in CH region foreigners in CH region
6. Figure: Concentration of total population and foreigners in the CH region 1996, 2006
Budapest
Population dynamics and the presence of foreigners
The most important processes determining the demographic character of Budapest are natural decrease of population and suburbanisation. Due to these processes, in the last ten years,
42 Budapest lost nearly 11 per cent of its population, more than 200.000 persons. Though the natural decrease seems to slow down: in the beginning of the period analysed it reached or even exceeded 6,6 per 1000 persons (12 15.000 persons per year) by 2006 it reduced to 3,4 per 1000 persons, in 2006 it still counted for an annual loss of nearly 6.000 persons. The migration balance of the capital is negative since 1993, then by 2000 it reached its peak at a loss of 9,6 per 1000 persons annually (more than 18.000 persons), then the decrease dropped gradually, to 2,7 per 1000 persons, a total of 4.800 persons by 2003 19 . The most significant target area of outward migration is the agglomeration of the capital, between 1995 and 2004 36 per cent of former Budapest residents settled in the area 20 .
The decrease of negative migration balance is partly resulting from international migration. Budapest is the primary target area of migrants, the number of foreign population with residence permit increased with approx. 14.500 in the last ten years, in 2006 it comprised of 66.000 individuals, 3,9 per cent of the population of the capital, more than double of the national average. The concentration of foreigners in the capital has increased in the last decade, while in 1996 35 per cent of them lived in Budapest, in 2006 43 per cent of the total population of foreigners was registered here.
45 42,8 40 34,8 35 30 25 18,7 20 16,9 15 10 5 0 1996 2006 total population in Budapest foreigners in Budapest
7. Figure: Concentration of total population and foreigners in Budapest 1996, 2006
Although it seems that international migration (with an average annual rate of approx. 1450 persons) takes part in decreasing the negative migration balance, it cannot overcome population loss as the main characteristic of the capital.
Main groups of the foreign population according to country of origin
As mentioned above, Budapest is the primary concentration point of foreigners from China and Vietnam, 87 per cent of these groups living in Hungary settled in the capital, which, according to official statistics, constitutes a community of more than 10,000 persons.
19 Due to uncertainities regarding data for the following years, partly as a result of changes of statistical regimes and the re structuration of institutional structures serving as basis for data of the CSO, we rather do not use these years’ data (2004 6) )as a basis for conclusions. 20 Népesedési folyamatok a budapesti agglomerációban KSH Budapest 2006 http://portal.ksh.hu/pls/ksh/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/regiok/bpagglo06.pdf
43 However, the actual size of the community is supposed to be greater, in case of Chinese experts’ estimates referred to 7 8.000 persons around 1996 (the statistics showed approx. 6.500 Chinese persons then) therefore a 20 per cent ratio of non documented migrants. We do not have estimations for 2006, counting with 20 per cent of invisibility, estimation would refer to 8.700 persons, however, certain estimations go as far as 30.000 persons (the latter seems to be an over estimation, for similar reasons that were mentioned referring to the country level: a set of necessary administrative procedures cannot be achieved without documentation) 21 . According to experts, migrants from countries geographically, culturally etc. more distant are more likely to settle in the capital 22 , this is the reason why more than half of the foreigners from other countries not listed here (from Africa, South America, other countries of Asia etc.) can be found at Budapest (approx. 14.000 persons). Although foreigners from neighbouring countries show a lower level of concentration, they still form a sizeable community comprising of 35.000 persons. The group of foreigners from the EU 15 – half of them from Germany and Great Britain – counts 7.000 persons.
EU-15 Neighbouring China and Other Total number of countries Vietnam countries foreigners Hungary 18357 98085 11730 26258 154430 CH region 8509 51311 10387 16869 87076 Budapest 6936 34949 10187 13953 66025 8th district 236 2567 1719 702 5224
1. Table: The number of foreigners on different territorial levels in Hungary according to source of origin, 2006
Age structure
The age structure of Budapest is older than the country average, and the process of ageing is prevailing in the capital as well: between 1996 and 2006 the ratio of children below 14 years of age decreased by 2,6 per cent, to 12,4 per cent, while the ratio of population above 65 increased by 1,5 per cent, to 18,1 per cent of the population. Similarly to the country level, the majority of foreigners living in Budapest is young adult between 25 44 years of age, their ratio in the total foreigner population decreased in the last ten years (from nearly 57 per cent in 1996, to 51 per cent in 2006), while the ratio of people in higher age categories (45 65, above 65) increased. However, the ratio of children among foreigners is also on the increase, the rate of increase is faster than in the total foreigner population of the country, while in 1996 approx. 2.500, in 2006 6.100 foreigner children resided in Budapest. At present it reaches 9 per cent of the foreigner population, still lower than the proportion of children between 0 14 years in the total population (12,4 per cent). An important reason for the latter might be that first wave migration is only step by step followed by second wave migration of family members, including children. In sum, the foreigner community of Budapest is younger than the foreigner population of total Hungary, supposedly since the age structure of foreigners’ groups concentrating in the capital (Chinese, Vietnamese, people from African countries etc.) is younger than of other groups settling more disperse (e.g. people from neighbouring countries).
21 http://www.falanx.hu/budapest_a_kinaiak_titkos_fovarosa 22 http://www.hhrf.org/kisebbsegkutatas/kk_2005_03/cikk.php?id=946
44 100% 4,2 5,7 16,6 18,1 90% 16,4 20,1 80% 70% 25,3 27,6 60% 50% 56,7 50,8 27,3 40% 30,6 30% 15,9 20% 11,3 17,5 14,2 10% 15,0 12,4 9,2 0% 5,3 Total Foreign Total Foreign population population population population 1996 1996 2006 2006 0-14 15-24 25-44 45-65 65+
8. Figure: Age structure of the total population and foreigners, 1996, 2006, municipal level
The ratio of foreigners is highest in the population group between 15 and 44 years of age: it comprises nearly 5 per cent of the 15 24 and nearly 6,5 per cent of the 25 44 years old population, which significantly exceeds the ratio of foreigners in the total population of Budapest (3,9 per cent) not to mention the national average (1,5 per cent). It implies that migration aiming at employment is even more prevailing in the capital, than in other areas of the country 23 . However, due to their relatively low proportion the effect of the above, younger adult foreign population on demographic trends of Budapest is limited. Ageing of foreign population presented above resulted in a 0,5 per cent increase in their proportion in the 65+ age group, but the presence of foreigners in this category is still insignificant (1,2 per cent). The ratio of foreign children in the 0 14 population group of Budapest is 2,9 per cent, still less than average, despite second wave migration (see below).
% 7 6,4 6 5,3 4,9 5 3,9 4 2,8 2,9 2,8 3 2,6 1,7 2 1,2 0,9 0,7 1 0 Ratio of foreigners in the age Ratio of foreigners in the age group, % 1996 group, % 2006
0-14 15-24 25-44 45-65 65+ total
9. Figure: Share of foreigners in different age groups in 1996 and 2006, municipal level
23 http://www.hhrf.org/kisebbsegkutatas/kk_2005_03/cikk.php?id=946
45 Marital status
The ratio of singles is slightly higher among foreigners residing in Budapest (47 per cent), while the ratio of married is slightly lower (45 per cent), however, the family status does not show basic differences from the country level. The ratio of foreigners living here with residence permit for family unification is higher than the country average, and is on the increase, while in 2003 5,7 per cent, in 2006 nearly 10 per cent (9,6 per cent) of foreigners resided in Budapest with a residence permit based on family unification, which implies that Budapest is an important target point of second wave migration.
The ratio of intermarriages in absolute terms is relatively low in the capital as well, although a slightly higher than the country average, 5,6 per cent, in general, it does not have a significant effect on the demographic trends.
8th district
The 8th district of Budapest, Józsefváros is located in the inner part of Budapest. Its origins date back to the 18th century, while most of the housing stock was constructed in the second part of the 19th century. In its inner part, inside the Grand Boulevard a number of national and municipal level institutions were built, together with palaces of the aristocracy. Outside the Grand Boulevard Józsefváros was traditionally the area of workers, owners of small industries as well as retail. Further from the centre, area consuming functions and relatively higher status residential enclaves were located. Its population reached its peak between the two world wars, with 100.000 inhabitants, by that time, Józsefváros, especially its areas outside the Grand Boulevard (middle Józsefváros) become one of the most congested and least prestigious part of the capital. After WW2 the area become subject of physical and social decay, among others, due to artificially low rents (housing stock was operated by the local councils as public tenements) insufficient even for maintenance; lack of renewal; the ageing of population as well as the arrival of low status, partly Roma families in the ‘60s and ‘70s. In the ‘70s policies aiming at urban reconstruction resulted in the demolition of part of the housing stock of middle Józsefváros and the construction of a housing estate, which proved to be an unsuccessful attempt to stop negative processes, the so called Szigony housing estate become a socially problematic area of the district, while (never fulfilled) plans to extend the geographical scope of renewal prevented other parts of the housing stock from renewal. In the latest years different types of urban renewal programs were launched in the area.
Presence of foreigners
Józsefváros is the most significant concentration point of foreigners in Budapest. In terms of quantity, the ratio of foreigners documented by the CSO is the highest among all Budapest districts and is constantly increasing, in 1998 it was 4,1 per cent, while in 2006 foreigners make up 6,5 per cent of the population (5224 foreigners were registered in the district in 2006). The actual number and ratio of foreigners is supposed to be higher, according to staff of the local police it is multiple to the official data, however, neither they nor other data sources have more exact estimations.
According to interviewees at the local police, a large number of foreigners living in the district are out of the scope of statistics. Many of them reside in the district, while have their registered address somewhere else in Budapest or in the country, others do not have a
46 registered address at all. The Chinese market attracts many foreigners to the district, especially – but not exclusively – Asians who then live near the Chinese market, or in some cases actually in the market, in offices used as flats.
Throughout the capital it is Józsefváros where the presence of migrants is most perceptible, shown by statistics and – according to qualitative information – experienced by the native population and the local institutions as well. It is not only foreigners living in the area who affect the life of Józsefváros, but also those having their businesses here, either on the Chinese market – the largest concentration point of small businesses operated by foreigners in the capital or even in Hungary – or at other points of the district, since a number of small shops and services are scattered around in the district, operated by foreigners, ‘they are here from morning till the evening from Monday to Sunday, so they have a strong effect on the life here’ as an interviewee formed it.
The relevance of Józsefváros in terms of foreign population lies not only in the relatively high ratio of the group but also in its composition. Józsefváros hosts one of the most significant Chinese and Vietnamese communities in the capital, moreover, in the country (in Budapest other concentration points of Chinese citizens are the 10th, 13rd and 11th districts). According to official statistics, nearly one third of foreigners living in the district are Chinese or Vietnamese, a bit more than 1.700 persons (in 1998 the CSO registered 1000 persons in this category 24 ). However, experts estimate the actual number of the community to be much higher, multiple to data shown in official statistics. According to interviewees latency is increased by the fact that in the community there are practices of a kind of “trade off” of available residence permits (e.g. those who travel further leave their permits for others to use, people ‘share’ permits in administrative procedures, or trade documents in some cases). Although no reliable estimations can be made, it might be important background information that in the Chinese market approx. 2000 Chinese worked in the second part of the ‘90s 25 , according to another estimation, 5000 plots were rented, and half of the merchants were of Asian origin which implies an even higher number, 26 while the market is of course not the only place where Chinese appeared in the life of the district. Of course we do not assume that all merchants actually lived in the district, but based on qualitative information it can be assumed that many of them lived nearby, usually with other family members. According to interviewees the number of Chinese merchants working in the market or in the adjacent commerce facilities 27 did not decrease since the date of the referred research. Despite the high number of Chinese in Hungarian and Budapest terms, there is no well identifiable “China town” in the area.
Although compared to their ratio in the migrant community of the country the proportion of foreigners from neighbouring countries is somewhat lower, it still comprises half of the foreigner population of Józsefváros, more than 2.500 persons according to the CSO. However, the actual number of the latter group, similarly to Asians, is supposed to be multiple to the official statistics. Many itinerant migrant workers (commuting between Hungary and their source country) reside in the district throughout their stay in Hungary. Some of them
24 Although the number of registered Chinese and Vietnamese foreigners increased sharply between 1998 (the first year referring to which district level data are available) it cannot be used as a reliable proxy for the increase of Chinese and Vietnamese population in the area since proportion of those registered might have varied. 25 Keresztély Krisztina (1998): A kínai közösség Budapesten, in: Bartha Györgyi (ed.) Budapest, nemzetközi város, Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, pp 203 221. 26 epa.oszk.hu/00000/00017/00026/pdf/czako.pdf 27 Part of the merchants, mostly Chinese, tends to move to facilities adjacent to the market, but these areas constitute one functional entity in fact.
47 come on the basis of the so called “status law” which allows ethnic Hungarians from outside the border for three months of employment in Hungary, not bound by employment quotas 28 , while others of them work here illegally. Due to the presence of highly mobile persons (e.g. itinerant – commuting – migrant workers) the size of the group is supposed to vary.
Qualitative information confirm that the two most significant groups of migrants in Józsefváros are people from China and Vietnam, and people from neighbouring countries, the latter group comprising mostly of ethnic Hungarians, and Romanian Roma.
Albeit their presence is not so significant in statistical terms, in order to obtain a fuller view on the population of the district, we also have to mention Arabic people and people of African origin (of course these groups have a certain cross section), a few hundred people according to official statistics, but more significant communities according to qualitative sources.
Geographical dispersion of foreigners
The socio-spatial structure of Józsefváros
In line with its historical background, the area is still very diverse in terms of the character and quality of built environment, in terms of functions appearing, as well as in terms of the social status of residents.
Its inner part “Palotanegyed” 29 (Palace quarter), still hosts a number of national and municipal level institutions (the National Museum, universities, libraries, the Hungarian Radio etc.) and is a higher status area than the outer parts. In the period analysed it underwent well detectable gentrification processes, linked to urban renewal projects of the local government (development of public space and renewal of housing stock).
Its middle part, between the Grand Boulevard and Fiumei and Orczy roads (comprising of Népszínház negyed, Csarnok negyed, Magdolna negyed, Józsefváros központ, Szigony negyed and Orczy negyed) is a lower status area. Due to its low property prices middle Józsefváros is an accessible point of entry for university students from the countryside, young couples as well as for foreigners with limited resources. These – in part very mobile – groups together with the “indigenous” population results in a social environment much more diverse than in other areas of the capital. However, the most problematic slum areas of Budapest are located here, especially in Magdolna negyed and Orczy negyed, with a high ratio of Roma residents (in Magdolna negyed, according to estimation of the Józsefváros Local Self Government, the ratio of Roma residents reaches 30 per cent, which is supposed to be a lower estimation, the real proportion of Roma might be even higher 30 ). At present different types of urban renewal programs are being launched in the area. In Szigony negyed the so called Corvin Sétány project aims at the gentrification of the area, with replacing current population with higher status households. The so called Magdolna project in Magdolna negyed aims at social rehabilitation with keeping most of the residents in the area, including programme elements for physical renewal, education, employment, community development etc.
28 Hungary opened its labour market towards Romania and Bulgaria so far with limitations, see the part on economy. 29 The names of areas refer to the territorial division used in the district’s development concept. 30 http://archivum.epiteszforum.hu/mitholmikor/varosepiteszet/magdolna/programme_terulete.pdf
48
In the outer part of the district (Kerepesi negyed, Ganz negyed, Tisztviselı telep, Százados úti negyed) area consuming institutions (industrial plots, hospitals, cemetery, railway areas etc.) can be found with enclaves of lower status residential areas, and two relatively closed, higher status areas “Tisztviselıtelep” and “Százados úti negyed”. The Ganz negyed hosts the biggest Chinese market of the country.
1. Graph: Area units of Józsefváros, proportion of foreigners in inner and middle Józsefváros in area units, 2001 3132
Presence of foreigners in different areas
According to data of the 2001 census, Asians (mostly Chinese and Vietnamese) are overrepresented in the Szigony street housing estate in middle Józsefváros “in the neighbourhood many Vietnamese are present. They work at the [Chinese] market, and here they can buy flats for cheap. I know it from tittle tattle around, that once a flat is bought by a
31 Data for small geographical units is only available from the 2001 census. In the census, ethnicity was recorded upon self identification, therefore ethnicity defined in the questionnaire does not necessarily reflect the actual situation, however, discrepancies in case if migrants might not be that significant as e.g. in case of Roma (on the country level, the estimated number of Roma population is three times as much than the number of those who defined themselves as Roma in the census.) 32 Note: data for foreigners only refer to inner and middle Józsefváros, for outer Józsefváros we possess no data. However, the latter does not supposed to be a concentration point for foreign residents since it contains sizeable non residential areas (e.g. the Chinese market itself, industrial plots etc.) and relatively higher status residential areas where qualitative information suggest that the ratio of foreigners is not significant.
49 family, only God knows how many people move in.” According to interviewees certain buildings of the housing estate are almost exclusively inhabited by Chinese (although they still comprise only a proportion of the total population of the area).
In addition, the presence of Asians is prevailing in lower status areas of the district, in the “Magdolna quarter” (especially near Teleki square), as well as in the neighbourhood near Vajda Péter street Orczy street (Orczy negyed). In a survey conducted in 2005, in these areas 6,1 per cent of respondents reported foreign place of birth, most of them originated from Romania, a smaller proportion from the Ukraine, mostly ethnic Hungarians. However, foreigners with whom questioners could not communicate fell out of the sample, therefore the actual ratio of foreigners is supposed to be higher33 . Chinese flat owners and tenants can also be found at “Orczy Fórum”, a set of newly constructed buildings near the Chinese market, with definitely higher social status compared to the environs. (Since the Orczy Fórum is a newly built area, foreigners living there have been so far not included in any of the available statistics.)
According to expert’s views most of the African people living in the district reside in the Szigony street housing estate, in private tenements.
Unlike the above groups of foreigners, who tend to live in middle Józsefváros, foreigners from the EU 15 – who are strongly underrepresented compared to their proportion in the capital’s society – live in the higher status inner part of the district.
Foreigners from Romania – still the most numerous group of foreigners living in the district – live dispersed, throughout the whole territory of the district.
Population dynamics of the district – impact of foreigners
The district, similarly to other inner city areas in Budapest, is subject to rapid population loss. In the last ten years it lost 8,5 per cent of its population, in 2006 it hosted approx. 80.000 residents (although the rate of population loss seems to decrease, in part, as a result of urban renewal projects taking place in the area 34 ). In the population decrease both natural decrease and negative migration balance play a role. Despite the district’s strong involvement in international migration, on the whole it cannot overcome the overall population loss of the area.
The population of Józsefváros is ageing as well (the ratio of 0 14 years old decreased by 2,1 per cent, while the ratio of 65+ increased by 1,4 per cent in the last ten years), but its age composition is still slightly younger than the Budapest average, in part, due to the over representation of the Roma population in the area, with a younger age structure. The foreigner community in the district is younger than the group of foreigners in Budapest level, and similarly to the other territorial levels, is dominated by the younger active age category (25 44 years): although their ratio dropped in the last ten years, they still comprise half of the foreign population (in the total population, the proportion of the age group is only one third). Despite
33 Source: A józsefvárosi Magdolna negyed és Orczy negyed lakosságának helyzete és egyes kérdésekkel kapcsolatos véleménye, Tervezet (The situation of residents of Magdolna and Orczy quarters and their view on certain issues). Research conducted in April 2005, with support of the Ministry of Justice and the Local Government of Józsefváros. The report was drafted by Sándor Erdısi Jr., May 2007) 34 Józsefváros 15 éves kerületfejlesztési stratégiája www.rev8.hu/csatolmanyok/dokok/dokok_14.doc
50 the younger character of the district’s foreign population, the ratio of children amongst foreigners is still below the level observed in the total population (508 children, 9,7 per cent compared to 13,1 per cent for the total population), the reasons are supposed to be similar as in case of Budapest. The ratio of older population above 65 years slightly increased in the group of foreigners as well, but it is still less than third of the district average (5,2 per cent compared to 16,5 per cent for the total population).
100% 3,8 5,2 17,9 14,6 16,5 19,3 80% 21,5 25,8 60% 59,1 50,5 29,4 40% 33
16 20% 11,5 16,1 15,3 15,2 13,1 6,4 9,7 0% Total, 1996 Foreigners, Total, 2006 Foreigners, 1996 2006 0-14 15-24 25-44 45-65 65+
10. Figure: Age structure of the total population and foreigners, 1996, 2006, district level
% 11 10 10 8,6 9 8,8 8 7 6,5 6 4,8 4,9 5 4,4 4,4 4 3 3 1,8 2,1 2 0,9 1 0 Ratio of foreigners in the age Ratio of foreigners in the age group, % 1996 group, % 2006
0-14 15-24 25-44 45-65 65+ total
11. Figure: Share of foreigners in different age groups in 1996 and 2006, district level
In Józsefváros, the significance of foreigners exceeds the country and the municipal level in all age groups. However, due to different age structure of the foreigners compared to the total population, their proportion in different age groups is very uneven. The ratio of foreigners is the highest at the young active age group between 25 44 years, it reaches 10 per cent of the group, highly exceeding the proportion of foreigners in the total population of Józsefváros (6,5 per cent). They are also overrepresented in the 15 24 age group, comprising 8,6 per cent of it. The presence of foreigners increased amongst the youngest in the last ten years,
51 however, they are still underrepresented compared to their ratio in the total population of the district, at present statistics show 5 per cent of foreigners in the 0 14 age group.
Marital status
The marital status of foreigners in the district does not differ basically from the pattern observed in the Budapest level, there are practically no widowers or divorced (less than 8 per cent of foreigners fall under these categories), and the ratio of singles slightly exceeds those married, 48 per cent of foreigners is single, while 45 per cent is married (the ratio of singles slightly increased while the ratio of those married dropped in the last years, the ratio of singles is slightly over the Budapest average, which in part might be a consequence of the fact that partnership without marriage is widespread among foreigners, according to interviews). Unfortunately no data exist on residence permits for family unification at the district level so we do not have assumptions on the significance of second wave migration compared to other territorial levels. Nevertheless we do have data for intermarriages, according to 2006 data 8,6 per cent of marriages involved foreigners as one of the parties, more than on the country or municipal level. We do not have data on the origin of persons involved in intermarriages, however, interviewees referred to intermarriages between Chinese or Vietnamese and Hungarian men and women, as well as between Arabic, African men and Hungarian women, but no intermarriages between Arabic women and Hungarian men, or between Chinese and Roma. According to the interviews, foreigners from the EU 15 usually do not get married with natives; they either come with their families, or as singles, but only for a limited time to work here. Intermarriage between ethnic Hungarians and natives is supposed to be frequent; however, it usually remains invisible, since interviewees did not necessarily know if one of the – Hungarian – parents originates from outside the border. Qualitative information also imply that certain population groups, namely Chinese and Vietnamese are relative closed in terms of intermarriages, most of the marriages are set within the population group.
Summary, conclusions, ending remarks
The ratio of foreign population in the country is on the increase, but still comprises only 1,5 per cent of the total population, a significantly lower proportion than in Western European countries, therefore their impact on the demographic situation is also limited. In addition, the composition of foreign population is specific in international comparison, since the majority of foreigners is ethnic Hungarian, a non visible minority with basically the same cultural background (including command of the Hungarian language) as the native population, therefore the issue of integration does not pose the same challenges as in case of other groups, e.g. ethnic Hungarian children have less problems in school attendance. (However, integration as an issue is not irrelevant even in case of this group, especially since there are research data on tensions regarding integration and even on negative attitudes towards ethnic Hungarians from neighbouring countries.) In addition to ethnic Hungarians there are a growing number of foreigners from the EU 15, and also from China and Vietnam.
The ratio of married is higher among foreigners than in the total population, but so is the ratio of singles, in part, as a consequence of their younger age structure, but also as a result of their specific situation i.e. that many foreigners come by themselves to work here and substantiate their future lives not necessarily in Hungary, others found a family here (the number of marriages set with the involvement of foreigners per 1000 persons exceeds the same ratio for the total population). Intermarriages are present, although due to the low proportion of
52 migrants in the total population, they comprise only a small minority of all marriages. Meanwhile, increase in the number of foreigners with residence permit for family unification implies that the process of second wave migration is present, however, in absolute terms, its significance is still limited: approx. 7 per cent of foreigners possess a residence permit for family unification.
The geographical dispersion of foreigners is very uneven, most of them concentrate in Budapest, while there are internal differences within the group as well: foreigners from neighbouring countries are the least concentrated (based on the basically similar cultural background they can integrate more easily, in addition, they tend to have a stronger social network not necessarily in the capital, and settling close to the source country might be an advantage for them), foreigners from the EU 15 are also less concentrated than the average (many of them live in the Western part of the country, the most developed areas after the capital), while in case of Chinese and Vietnamese the overwhelming majority lives in Budapest, Józsefváros being one of the main concentration points of the community.
Although in Józsefváros the ratio of foreigners is the highest in Budapest terms, and is on the increase, which suggests that the significance of the foreign population increases in the life of the area – in terms of its demographic composition, economy, as well as concerning local institutions etc. – it still comprises a limited proportion of the total population, 6,5 per cent according to official statistics. In certain population groups foreigners are highly overrepresented, especially in the younger active age group (between 25 44 years) where their proportion reaches 10 per cent, but also in the 15 24 age group, with a ratio of 8,6 per cent. The latter suggests that similarly to Western European experiences, foreigners might have a positive effect on the demographic structure of ageing societies, but due to the relatively low ratio of foreigners this effect is so far not prevailing.
In the public perception of the district – which appears in the perception of its residents as well – the presence of foreigners is an important issue (in part as a result of their relatively higher proportion, in part since the ratio of visible minorities, especially Chinese and Vietnamese is higher in Józsefváros than in other areas of the capital), together with a notion of diversity and openness towards minorities, supported by the fact that the district is the area of concentration for the Roma population as well.
However, the development strategy of the district does not refer specifically to foreigners. In addition, statements of local officials suggest that the local government does not intend to treat the origin of residents as an important factor either in development or in the operation of local institutions and services, in order to provide equal treatment “origin is indifferent for us” as a staff member of the local administration worded 35 . The latter is important in the light of the fact that local governments in Hungary have a very wide mandate not only in development but also in the operation of local services and institutions, including housing, social care and education.
Although the ratio of foreigners is on the increase on each territorial level analysed, the presence of large migrant communities is not prevailing in the country. It might be explained by the fact that the proportion of foreigners is still relatively low in Western European comparison, and by the fact that a part of foreigners is highly mobile (e.g. itinerant workers from neighbouring countries) therefore not constitute a stable group. However, the 8 th district
35 The development strategy refers to foreigners at one single place, in its background analysis, related to their effect of foreigners on the area. References to Roma are also scarce, which supports the above notion.
53 of Budapest is one of the important exceptions, where concentration of foreigners can be observed.
54 II. Foreigners in the system of education and social services
II.1. Education
The Hungarian educational system underwent fundamental transformations after 1989/1990. Significant changes have taken place in the vertical structure of the school system: the earlier common 8 grade primary (ISCED 1 and 2) and 4 grade secondary (ISCED 3) school structure has been changed to a 4+8 grade and a 6+6 grade structure to facilitate an earlier separation of students heading to academic routes. However nowadays it is also possible to accomplish the full compulsory 12 grade at the same school. (See Appendix 1 for the whole structure) As different structures exist parallel, it is becoming harder and harder to divide them into clear school types. The maintenance of the public educational system is essentially the responsibility of the state, but more and more private, parochial and foundation schools appear, particularly at secondary level.
At local level educational services are provided by the local governments, which are the main maintainers, hence they make the majority of the decisions about public education. Moreover, since the introduction of the National Core Curriculum in 1995, schools have been obligated to prepare their own ‘pedagogic programmes’ and own local curricula, developed characteristically by the school headmasters.
In Hungary education is compulsory between 5 and 18 years, which includes at least one year pre school education (in kindergartens), primary and secondary education (ISCED 0 3).
Before 2002 compulsory education was extended only to foreign children with residence permit and admitted refugees, educational institutions were not obligated to admit foreign children who had temporary residence permit, and they did not get normative support for them either. However if they were allowed to attend, they might have been asked to pay tuition fees. In these cases, the local government could have decided on the amount of the tuition fee, but it had to be equal to the amount of support provided by the maintainer per capita. Only those children were exceptions to the rule whose countries had an agreement with Hungary.
Practically only few local governments exercised their right to request tuition fees though. In the 8 th district for example the 24/2002. (VI.21.) decree of the local government stated that non Hungarian citizens had to pay tuition fee unless any other international agreements or laws disposed otherwise. Moreover, even after the modification of Act on Public Education in 2002, they collected tuition fees from foreign students, referring to this decree 36 .
In 2002, Article 110 of the Act on Public Education extended compulsory education to all non Hungarians with the same conditions as Hungarian citizens, if they are of minor age without an escort applying for asylum, are refugees, persons temporarily seeking shelter on Hungarian territory, asylum seekers or immigrants, settled, holders of humanitarian residence
36 Feischmidt Margit Nyíri Pál (2006): A kutatás kontextusa in: Feischmidt Margit Nyíri Pál (ed.) Nem kívánt gyerekek? Külföldi gyerekek magyar iskolákban, Budapest: Sík Kiadó
55 permits or are of minor age and hold a residence permit or humanitarian residence permit together with their parents 37 .
In 1998 the compulsory age of education was raised from 16 to 18 years, which concerns foreign citizen students as well. Before that – due to the widespread practice of grade repetition and lower grade placement foreign students had usually managed to accomplish primary school only by the time they were 16. Therefore the appearance of non ethnic Hungarian students in secondary schools is more and more on the agenda. This provides the educational system with new challenges since at secondary level they are less prepared to educate students who do not speak Hungarian (they have much less time and energy to teach the Hungarian language beside the other subjects), while primary schools are not allowed to admit students above 16 years of age. Accordingly, many foreign citizens orient themselves to – mainly English speaking – international secondary schools.
Hungary
Trends in the number of school population
In the school year 1995/96 4862 foreign student attended schools in Hungary in primary (875 educational institutions) and in secondary (447 educational institutions) level together. This volume increased by 250 per cent resulting in a number of 12.067 foreign students attending school by 2005/2006 (Although the latter includes the earlier not registered kindergarten pupils, the significant increase observed cannot be exclusively a consequence of that).
The number of foreign citizens admitted to public educational institutions increased dynamically up to some 13.000 students, from the mid 90s till 2002 2003 so before the EU accession. Since then there has been a slight decrease, and the number seems to stabilise about 12.000, which, however, is still a small ratio (0.7 per cent) of the total 1.758.000 school population attending kindergarten or full time public educational system. Although the ratio of foreign citizen students has more than doubled (without the kindergarten pupils) in the last ten years (in 1995/1996 0.3 per cent of the students were foreign citizens, while in 2005/2006 this number increased to 0.7 per cent) this ratio is still insignificant.
12. Figure: Foreign pupils/students in full-time education*, Hungary
37 Abstact of Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education http://www.okm.gov.hu/main.php?folderID=67&articleID=1543&ctag=articlelist&iid=1
56 14000
12000
10000 5459 5365 5353 5152
8000 4640 747 911 882 717 6000 3566 3038 2573 685 4000 2046 2255 444 5002 4761 4577 4515 505 466 463 518 3561 2000 3228 3830 2353 2465 2899 1048 1554 1538 1608 1683 0
6 7 8 9 0 1 2 4 5 9 9 00 00 /199 199 200 200 9/200 2/2003 96 9 0 9 9 1995/19 1 1997/ 1998/19 1 2000/ 2001/2 20 2003/ 2004/2 2005/2006 Kindergartens Primary schools Vocational schools Secondary schools
* Data for the 2000/2001 school year is not available * Data on kindergartens is available only from the 2001/2002 school year.
It is important to note, that the number of foreign citizens studying in Hungary might be higher than that of the official data, because information from the international schools are not included in the data collecting system of the Ministry of Education, while according to a study 38 , nearly one third of the foreign student attend such schools.
In addition, despite the extension of compulsory education in 2002, we have to consider those foreign children who are outside the educational system either because they stay in Hungary for less than a year, or because they stay in the country despite their families’ application for a refugee status was rejected, so they have to remain ’invisible’, therefore cannot send their children to school. Unfortunately we do not have any estimation regarding the number of this population.
Distribution of foreign students by educational level
At different educational levels and programmes foreign students appear in different proportions. In the 1995/1996 school year foreign citizen students comprised 0.32 per cent of the total student population, while their ratio was lower in primary (0.24 per cent) and higher in secondary (0.49 per cent) schools, in the vocational programmes it was 0.27 per cent. In the school year 2005/2006 0.5 per cent of the kindergartens’, primary schools’ and vocational schools’ population was foreign citizen, while – similarly to the situation in 1995/1996 – in the secondary schools the proportion of foreign students was higher: 1.2 per cent (in case of general (grammar) secondary schools 1.21 per cent, in case of vocational secondary schools 1.13 per cent of the school population was foreign citizen). Thus the greater part (49 per cent) of non Hungarian citizen students attends secondary institutions.
38 Vámos Ágnes: Külföldi tanulók az 1999/2000. tanévben. Kézirat. Budapest 13 15, cited by Feischmidt Margit Nyíri Pál (2006): A kutatás kontextusa in: Feischmidt Margit Nyíri Pál (ed.) Nem kívánt gyerekek? Külföldi gyerekek magyar iskolákban, Budapest: Sík Kiadó p. 30.
57
13. Figure: Distribution of non-Hungarian citizens in the school year 2005/2006
2754; 23% 1683; 14%
2398; 20%
24; 0% 4515; 37% 693; 6%
Kindergarten Primary school Vocational school Special vocational school Grammar school Other secondary school
Distribution of foreign students by origin
Most of the foreign citizen students in Hungary are ethnic Hungarians, mainly from Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Serbia. In 2005/2006 45 per cent of the foreign citizen kindergarten pupils, 59 per cent of the foreign primary school population, and 75 per cent of the foreign students in secondary schools (general, secondary vocational and vocational) were ethnic Hungarians. In other words most of the ethnic Hungarian students attend secondary schools, which reflect the mobility expectations of families: they expect their children to continue their studies in Hungarian universities.
The majority of the non Hungarian foreign students come from non EU countries such as China and Vietnam. Only one third of the non Hungarians come from the EU 15 countries while two third from non EU countries. 39 14. Figure: Distribution of non-Hungarian citizens according to the country of origin, in the school year 2005/2006
39 Since the statistics of Ministry of Education differentiate non Hungarian ethnic students’ origin only for EU and non EU countries, we can only assume – based on data regarding the source counties for the total foreign population – that most of them are from China and Vietnam. This assumption is strengthened by survey data on 2500 foreign students according to which 70 per cent of non Hungarian ethnic students were of Asian origin. (Vámos Ágnes (2003) A migráció hatása az iskolára, cited by Oltalomkeresık, Vol. IX. No. 10. p. 7)
58 3 092; 26%
1 164; 10% 1 113; 9%
527; 4% 371; 3% 140; 1%
2; 0% 3 899; 32% 958; 8% 801; 7% Ukraine Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Croatia Hungarian from EU Hungarian from non-EU EU non-EU
To sum up, we have to distinguish three groups, which differ not only in their attitudes towards the educational system but also in those pedagogical and methodological solutions that would facilitate their integration: 1.) Ethnic Hungarians mainly coming from the neighbouring countries 2.) Children of non Hungarian families, who stay in Hungary for a longer or shorter period for economic reasons 3.) Children arriving to Hungary as refugees
Educational policy
The need for the development of a complex educational strategy for immigrants was put on the agenda for the first time related to Hungary’s accession to the EU. In the framework of transposing the EU requirements to the Hungarian legal system, Hungary accepted to provide discrimination free entrance and participation in the public education for all non Hungarian minors, school age children, with the same conditions as for Hungarians. Article 110 of the Act on Public Education deals with the education of foreign citizen minors in more detail.
Prior to the EU accession this issue was not in the focus of the education government, according to an official of the Ministry of Education, due to the low number of foreign citizen students in the Hungarian educational system. Although in the last ten years the proportion of foreign citizen students has increased substantially, their ratio is still modest in the total school population (0,7 per cent in 2005/2006).
Although Hungary does not have an officially accepted national migration strategy, only certain legal provisions referring to immigration and aliens’ affairs, the Ministry of Education passed a ten year migration strategy in September 2005, based on the existing legal framework and the EU requirements referring to migration and education of immigrant children. According to the strategy, the ministry defines its task as to fulfil the pedagogic and administrative tasks related to the education of immigrant minors staying at the territory of Hungary.
59 The Migration Strategy of the Ministry of Education calculates with a slow increase of the number of immigrant children, as a result of which, according to the Ministry’s estimations, the ratio of foreign students in public education will reach 5 per cent by 2015 (the estimation also takes into consideration the overall demographic trend of decrease of the number of children).
In case of Hungary the composition of immigrant students is specific in international comparison, since most of them are ethnic Hungarians, thus speak Hungarian well. Consequently, their integration into the public education system, although it might raise certain problems, fundamentally differs from the challenges of integration in case of non Hungarian students. Although the number of minors arriving from outside Europe is low in absolute terms, their integration is much more complicated due to language problems and cultural differences, in addition, since these children belong to visible minorities, they are more likely to experience negative attitudes from their environment.
Refugees comprise a specific group of foreigners. Researches show that local residents as well as education institutions are less tolerant and inclusive near reception centres. 40 Schools often reject the admission of refugees because they cannot cope with their specific needs and are afraid that it would cause problems in their educational and pedagogic work. In addition, in some cases parents of Hungarian pupils put schools under pressure to reject foreign children, otherwise they take out their children from the school– which would generate financial difficulties, or might even lead to the shutdown of the institution. Inasmuch schools regard refugees as ‘temporary visitors’ (because they often travel further after some weeks or months), securing the attendance of Hungarian students is more important for them.
Pedagogical methods for the intercultural education of Hungarian and migrant children and students in Hungary 41
The Ministry of Education introduced an intercultural pedagogic programme for schools educating migrants’ children, the first one which thinks over tasks related to the teaching and inclusion of non Hungarian citizens in schools. Pursuant to the authorisation conferred in Section 110(8) of Act LXXIX of 1993 on Public Education, the Minister of Education issued guidelines of intercultural educational of kindergarten and school level education of migrant children and students 42 . It is the first document, which deals with the future perspectives of foreign students, their integration, and the socialisation of Hungarian students for tolerance towards them. The programme focuses on teaching Hungarian as a foreign language and preparing teachers to accomplish that.
The intercultural pedagogic programme and the related specific normative support have been initiated from the school year 2004/2005. After a year, a monitoring report 43 concluded that –
40 Szilassy Eszter Árendás Zsuzsa (2006): „Mi már a cigány gyerekek kapcsán megtanultuk a másságot” – menekült gyerekek és az ıket tanító pedagógusok diskurzusai, in: Feischmidt Margit Nyíri Pál (ed.) Nem kívánt gyerekek? Külföldi gyerekek magyar iskolákban, Budapest: Sík Kiadó 41 Oktatási Minisztérium (2006) Útmutató az interkulturális pedagógiai programme iskolai bevezetéséhez és alkalmazásához, Budapest: Oktatási Minisztérium, also available at http://www.okm.gov.hu/doc/upload/200506/interkulturalis_pedagogiai_programme.pdf 42 Oktatási Közlöny, Vol. XLVIII. No. 24. 43 Vámos Ágnes (2005): A magyar és a külföldi állampolgár gyermekek és tanulók közös nevelésekor, illetve nevelése oktatásakor alkalmazott interkulturális pedagógiai rendszer 2004. szeptemberi iskolai bevezetésének
60 leastwise for the present only few kindergartens and schools implemented the programme, mainly in order to avail normative support, rather than to realise the pedagogic programme. The report discussed a series of problems, partly pedagogical, partly practical and financial, which led to the low level of participation of relevant kindergartens and schools.
First and foremost, there is no opportunity to obtain the specific normative after ethnic Hungarian (but foreign citizen) students. Bilingual schools and ethnic and national minority schools are also excluded from the set of eligible institutions. In order to be eligible, schools have to elaborate their own intercultural programme, while the amount of normative support (an annual 22.000 HUF, approx. 90 EUR per capita) does not motivate them to develop such a programme, especially since they usually educate only a few foreign students. In addition, it is not education institutions themselves, but their maintainers, who have to apply for the normative support, which poses organisational difficulties. Finally, there is a lack of knowledge regarding pedagogical and methodological instruments which could facilitate the realisation of an intercultural approach, teachers are not prepared to teach Hungarian as a foreign language, and trainings for that have so far not begun.
At present, the Ministry works on the revision of the intercultural programme, including increase of the available normative support (to 44.000 HUF, approx. 180 EUR) from the school year 2007/2008. In addition, the process of application would change; supports would be available on tenders. Beyond that, in the Social Renewal Operative Programme of the National Development Plan of Hungary for 2007 2013 one of the priorities is to provide support for students with special educational needs, including migrant children.
Central Hungary region and Budapest
Although most of the data are either deficient or not available for lower territorial levels than the national one, based on the available data, concentration of the foreign students in the CH region and especially in Budapest is clearly observable. (See Appendix 2 for exact numbers)
The concentration of foreign students in Budapest and its surrounding area was already visible in 1996, when 45 per cent of the primary school pupils were to be found in the CH region, and 39 per cent studied in Budapest itself. In case of secondary schools, 26 per cent of the foreign students concentrated in the CH region, 23 per cent in the capital. Since that the concentration of foreign students in the CH region, especially Budapest increased.
In 2006 73 per cent of all foreign kindergarten children were to be found in the CH region, 64 per cent of them (i.e. the total foreigner kindergarten population) in Budapest. The percentage of the foreign primary school pupils in the CH region was 63 per cent, half of which was concentrated in the capital. 48 per cent of the secondary school students studied in the CH region within which 44 per cent of the total foreign citizen secondary school population in Budapest. Consequently, more than half of the foreign students living in Hungary at the moment are concentrated in the educational institutions of the CH region, especially Budapest.
elsı tapasztalatai, javaslatok további teendıkre, available at http://www.okm.gov.hu/doc/upload/200512/ipr iplementacioja2 3.doc
61 In comparison to the total population of students, it is clearly visible that the concentration of the foreign students in the CH region is significantly greater on every educational level than that of the total Hungarian students (e.g. 25 per cent of the primary school pupils go to school in the CH region and only 14 per cent of them study in Budapest; 31 per cent of the secondary students study in the CH region and 24 per cent of them in the capital city, in sum, approximately one quarter of the total population of school children is concentrated in Budapest and its surrounding area, which mirrors the territorial distribution of the total population).
15. Figure: Concentration of total and foreigner students in the CH region, and Budapest
80 72,9
70 63,8 63,2 60 49,8 48,5 50 45,4 43,6 38,9 40 30,8 31,6 27,7 30 25,3 24,5 24,5 26,2 26,2 23,3 20 15,1 13,6 14,7 10
0 Kindergarten, Primary school Primary school Secondary Secondary 2006, % 2006, % 1996, % school, 2006% school, 1996%
CH region - total CH region- foreigners Budapest- total Budapest- foreigners
The ratio of foreign students also worth considering. As we have seen it earlier, in spite of the fact that their population is more than doubled between 1996 and 2006, in proportion to the total population of students, their number is still insignificant. On national level the number of foreign kindergarten and primary school pupils adds up to 0.5 per cent, whereas the foreign citizen secondary students add up to 0.9 per cent of the total population of students.
Due to their uneven territorial distribution, the ratio of foreign students in the CH region and Budapest is higher than in the country level, especially in the latest year observed, 2006. The difference results partly from the increasing number and concentration of foreigners in the region, but also from the decreasing birth rate of the area. In 2006, the number of foreign students in the CH region added up to 1.3–1.5 per cent of the total school population, whereas 2 per cent of the kindergarten and primary school pupils and 1.6 per cent of the secondary students were foreign citizens.
16. Figure: Proportion of foreign pupils/students, %
62 2,5
2,05 1,98 2,0 1,64 1,45 1,5 1,35 1,27 % 0,92 1,0 0,66 0,54 0,48 0,49 0,47 0,43 0,5 0,40 0,25
0,0 Hungary CH region Budapest
Kindergarten, 2006, % Primary school 2006, % Primary school 1996, % Secondary school, 2006% Secondary school, 1996%
• No data for kindergarten are available for the year 1996.
In the capital, especially in areas hosting a larger number of immigrants such as the 8 th , 10 th , 11 th , 13 th and 14 th districts, schools tend to educate a higher number of foreign students (more than 10 pupils). These areas attract their foreign inhabitants usually with their low property prices and nearby markets.
International schools in Budapest and the surrounding
Besides public schools, maintained mainly by local governments, private international schools also school foreign students in Budapest and its surroundings. According to a recent study 44 in Budapest approx. ten of such schools – operated fully by foreign states or organisations, or with mixed accreditation – can be found on primary and secondary level, in the larger ones the number of students exceeds 2.000 45 . In some of these schools the majority of students is Hungarian – e.g. in the German and Austrian schools located in 12 th district – in other schools most of the students originate from the foreign countries, who speak the educational language of the school as natives, this is the case at the French and Spanish schools. In the most expensive American and British schools the school population is recruited from the elite of immigrants, i.e. children of diplomats and managers of multinational companies.
Ethnic Hungarian children from neighbouring countries – the overwhelming majority of foreign school population in Hungary – tend to attend Hungarian schools, similarly to the native population; therefore they are not likely to appear in international schools.
International schools tend to attract many foreign children already in the primary level; however, it is even more widespread that after a Hungarian primary, foreign children attend international schools at secondary level, in order for them to prepare for the continuation of their studies at Western European or US universities.
44 Paveszka Dóra Nyíri Pál: Oktatási stratégiák és a migráns tanulók iskolai integrációja in: Feischmidt Margit Nyíri Pál (ed.) Nem kívánt gyerekek? Külföldi gyerekek magyar iskolákban, Budapest: Sík Kiadó p.164. 45 S. Ráduly János HVG, 2001. szeptember 22.
63 In the following the case of the bilingual Chinese Hungarian primary school will be presented, since it attracts children of the Chinese community of Józsefváros, the most significant non Hungarian ethnic migrant community in the district.
The Chinese-Hungarian bilingual school
The bilingual Chinese Hungarian primary school opened in September 2004, based on an interstate agreement set during the Chinese visit of PM Péter Medgyessy in 2003. The primary aim of the school is to provide the education of Hungarian language as a foreign language and Hungarian culture for non Hungarian children, in order to promote the successful integration of immigrant children in the public educational system in Hungary. A further aim is to teach Chinese language and culture, to preserve the attachment to the country of origin for their Chinese students. In addition, the certificate provided by the school is admitted in the EU. The institution is maintained by a public company in relation with the Ministry of Education, financed by the Hungarian state; while the state of China provided material support e.g. text books and computers at the beginning.
Education in the institution is bilingual: most of the lessons (65 per cent) are taught in Hungarian, while Arts, PE, Informatics and Chinese culture for the upper classes are taught in Chinese (35 per cent), in addition, Hungarian students learn Chinese as a foreign language. According to the headmaster of the school, they have difficulties in teaching Hungarian for those children who were not grown up in the country.
In 2004 four classes started with 82 Chinese and 8 Hungarian students, at present they educate 125 children in nine classes in six grades. However, families of Chinese students often move – if business fails the family moves back home or to a third country – therefore there is a high rate of fluctuation among students which poses major problems for the school. Students tend to live in districts with a sizeable Chinese community, namely the 8 th , 9 th , 10 th districts nearby the Chinese market, as well as the 4 th and 13 th district, in the vicinity of a newly constructed Asian shopping centre. Students are transferred to school with two school buses each morning. According to the headmaster, it is difficult to involve Chinese families into school life, since as she put it ‘Chinese parents work hard from morning till evening’.
8th district
In the 8 th district – due to its central location – many educational institutions are located, but part of them is operated by the municipality of Budapest, regarding which no data can be obtained at the local level.
Trends in the number of school population
Unfortunately no data could be obtained for the year 1996 therefore the analysis refers to the situation in 2006. According to statistics of the Ministry of Education in the school year 2005/2006 67 kindergarten children, 87 primary school pupils, and 188 secondary school students were to be found in the district.
In comparison to the proportion of foreign citizen students in Budapest, the concentration of foreign students in the 8 th district is greater than the concentration of students – natives and foreigners together – in general: only 3.3 per cent of the children attending kindergarten
64 (natives and foreigners together) are to be found in the district, while 6.6 per cent of the foreign citizen kindergarten pupils concentrate here. The disparity can also be observed in primary school level: 3.1 per cent of the total number of students, and 3.9 per cent of foreign citizen students studied in the district. However, the proportion at secondary level is balanced, the ratio of students studying in the district in general – 8.8 per cent – equals the respective ratio of foreign students. 17. Figure: Concentration of students in the 8 th district in certain educational institution-types compared to Budapest, 2006
10 8,8 8,8 9 8
7 6,6
6
% 5 3,9 4 3,3 3,1 3 2
1
0 Kindergarten, 2006, % Primary school 2006, % Secondary school 2006, % 8th district in Bp- total 8th district in Bp - foreigners
The ratio of foreigners in the total kindergarten population at present adds up to 4.2 per cent, while 2.5 per cent of the primary school population and 1.6 per cent of secondary school students is foreign citizen.
18. Figure: Proportion of foreign pupils/students in certain educational institution-types 2006, %
4,5 4,17 4,0 3,5 3,0 2,51 2,5 % 2,05 1,98 2,0 1,64 1,64 1,5 1,0 0,5 0,0 Budapest 8th district
Kindergarten, 2006, % Primary school 2006, % Primary school 1996, %
65 Local educational policy
The educational strategy of the 8 th district, accepted by the local government in 1996, does not focus especially on the education of foreign citizen students. Although integration in education is a highlighted issue of the concept, it appears basically in connection with Roma population, however references are made to foreign citizen children as well. Integration is also discussed in the quality management plans of educational institutions.
One of the kindergartens of the district intends to introduce the already mentioned intercultural pedagogic programme in its practice; its application is being compiled these months. According to an official of the educational department of the local government, opening towards foreign students is an opportunity for schools in the growing competition between educational institutions for pupils, resulting from the decrease of the number of children.
Approach of the local schools toward foreign students
The distribution of foreign students is uneven. Among the kindergartens and primary schools maintained by the local government (14 kindergartens and 9 primary schools) foreign citizen students were to be found in 9 kindergartens and 6 primary schools in the school year 2005/2006. Some educational institutions of the district attract foreigners due to their location, in other cases foreign citizen parents are attracted by open minded, tolerant pedagogic programmes.
Kindergartens
The kindergartens reported a total number of 71 foreign pupils, however interpretation of statistical data is problematic since it in some cases institutions include ethnic Hungarians from neighbouring countries in their statistics, in others not. In most of the affected kindergartens 1 5 foreign pupils are to be found, mainly from Romania (supposed to be ethnic Hungarians) and some Chinese pupils. Concentration of foreign pupils is by far the highest in three kindergartens. In the Tolna Lajos street kindergarten altogether 19 foreign citizens are registered, most of them came from Romania (mostly ethnic Hungarians), in addition there are some (1 3) pupils from Syria, Nigeria and Egypt. In ‘Gyerek Virág’ located in the vicinity of Szigony street housing estate which hosts a higher number of foreigners, 26 foreign pupils were to be found, mainly of Asian origin (Chinese and Vietnamese). The third kindergarten relevant from this perspective is ‘Katica’ in Vajda Péter street (near to the Chinese market),. In the following we will discuss the latter in detail, due to their specific pedagogic approach.
The ’Katica’ kindergarten
At present with 10 Chinese, Vietnamese and Mongolian, 1 Polish, 1 Croatian and some 5 ethnic Hungarian pupils are to be find in the Katica kindergarten, which means 12 per cent of the total of 140 pupils. The number of children of Asian origin is on the increase, because of the vicinity of the Chinese market, as well as the tolerant, open minded attitude of the institution. They keep contacts with the Chinese Hungarian primary school, admit the younger brothers and sisters of students of the school, and spread information about the school among parents as well.
66
The basis of the pedagogic programme of the institution is inclusiveness. They are open towards children with different types of specific educational needs, including children with learning disorientation, problems with communicative competences, as well as children from foreign origin. As a result of free choice of kindergarten by parents, foreign children are concentrated in such tolerant kindergartens. ‘if parents – especially those who do not speak Hungarian – feel that their children feel well, teachers are kind, they smile on them, and make themselves understood no matter how, the info will spread in the community in moments’ according to the leader of the institution.
Experiences of the kindergarten show that in early socialisation foreign mother tongue does not cause any kind of problems, except for the case if speech development or other development disorders are present. In these cases bilingualism means an extra difficulty. According to the head of the kindergarten they do not have problems with Asian children, because they develop quickly, their adaptability is very high. The only thing they have to keep in mind is not to place more pupils with the same mother tongue in the same group. Most of the foreign children learn Hungarian quite well in a few months’ time, only absence of kindergarten – because of illness or a visit at home – throws them back. According to staff of the kindergarten, foreign children, who start their education in Hungary (at crèche, kindergarten) typically go on to Hungarian primary schools, however some of them are taken back to the source country.
According to the interviewee, the social background of these Asian children is quite modest; children are clean, well kept and fed. Parents collect them with quality cars, and they live consolidated, the nuclear family lives together. Their health care is well arranged, they have health insurance, paid annually.
The kindergarten plans to introduce the intercultural pedagogic programme in its practice, due to the more and more prevailing presence of foreign children. ‘This is a problem for us, I see this children sitting here, they are so lovely as they learn Hungarian handicraft but I always tell myself: they have their own culture, own folk songs, why don’t we teach them that? It would benefit the others as well.’
The kindergarten plans to invite teachers from the consulates, who could help not only in teaching the language, but also in the transmission of the cultural heritage ‘so that these children knew they are Mongolians, Chinese, Vietnamese etc., knew about the culture, it wouldn’t hurt Hungarian children either if they learn Mongolian and Chinese folk songs and hear about these cultures.’
Primary schools
Primary schools registered 54 foreign students in their statistics, however, the issue of ethnic Hungarians (sometimes included in statistics, sometimes omitted) is relevant here as well (e.g. data of the Ministry of Education indicated 87 foreign students in primary schools for the previous school year). The case of Vajda Péter primary school demonstrates the problem well: in addition to the 4 ’officially’ registered foreign students, 14 ethnic Hungarians – also foreign citizens but not included in the statistics – studied there in the school year 2005/2006.
67 In schools where foreign students appear (mainly Romanian, Chinese and Vietnamese) their number usually does not exceed 4 8. The only exception is the Losonci square primary school, located in the middle of the Szigony street housing estate: 23 foreign pupils are registered there; by far the highest number amongst primary schools in the district, therefore the school will be presented below in more detail.
The Losonci square primary school
At present the school educates the highest number of foreigners compared to other schools of the district. (For the exact distribution of foreign children in Losonci see Appendix 3.) Children from Asia appeared here in greater number ten years ago, in the first years they met mostly with Chinese pupils, then Mongolians came, at present Vietnamese dominate. Out of the 23 foreign pupils registered in 2005/6 17 are Vietnamese and 5 Chinese, living at the housing estate nearby. The school takes steps to prepare for the reception of foreign children, they have an own pedagogic concept regarding foreign students, and employ a teacher on contractual basis, for teaching Hungarian as a foreign language. They compile a specific report on the development of each foreign student, with comments on their general development and a separate part regarding the development of their language skills.
In addition to the 23 foreign students mentioned above, 3 ethnic Hungarian children attend the school and an additional 10 15 children originates from intermarriages. However, the latter group is not registered since they speak Hungarian well, know the Hungarian customs and traditions, and teachers are able to communicate at least with one of their parents without any problems.
The school’s policy is to place foreign children into classes of their respective age group, and in case they cannot catch up, they repeat a grade.
One of the major problems with the enrolment of these children is to obtain official medical documents and certificates needed by schools. The practice in many cases is that they admit children, while parents make a promise that they will send the documents translated and validated. However, in many cases the documents never arrive, since parents would have to pay for them so they rather “forget” about them.
In addition, foreign students show a high rate of fluctuation. Staff of the school is not informed about the further plans of parents, they do not know for how long the family intends to stay in Hungary. It often happens that students suddenly disappear from the school, without prior notice, or appear even in the middle of the school year. ‘It is really sad when we begin to teach a pupil, we came to like him/her, and then s/he disappears from our lives.’ Others come back after some weeks or months e.g. if they had to go back only to prolong their visa, or due to family obligations or other reasons, which might also raise various problems: ‘We have such a child now, he’s just came back from Vietnam, got skinny, we don’t know what happened but we have a lots of problems with him now.”
The appearance of over age children (above 16 years) poses a problem as well, especially since the compulsory schooling age was raised from 16 to 18, as primary schools are not permitted to enrol students above 16. At present some 3 4 of such children appears annually.
68 Foreign students are entitled for educational supports by the state, with the same conditions as Hungarians, if they have an officially registered address in the district. The set of supports includes messing allowance, and subsidies for the purchase textbooks as well as for summer camps. ‘These are all general supports, for which they do not have to apply, because Asians never apply for any kind of support. E.g. the school camp is subsidised, and they resort it without ever knowing that it is supported.’
Continuing of their studies at secondary level does not pose any problem for the students of Losonci. According to experiences of the headmaster, they keep on the same way as Hungarians, if they do not drop out of school suddenly (see above), they will surely attend school till their 18 years of age.
The attitudes of interviewees toward foreign citizens
The attitudes toward foreigners, especially the issue of vs. conflict frequently came up in the narratives of the interviewees. In the following, we provide a brief analysis of these narratives in the conceptual framework of a recently published study. 46
Researchers in the referred study identified three types of discourses related to refugees: 1) negligation of ’otherness’: universalistic discourse Usually includes conscious negation of differences and conflicts (especially ’outwards’, as a consequence of the interview situation as well, in order to not to set a negative picture about the institution itself) but in some cases it might also refer to ’colour blindness’ 47 , when the teacher really does not perceive the otherness. In certain cases the approach involves generalisation of problems and placing them in a ‘general human’ dimension 2) Idealisation of ’otherness’: culturist discourse It refers to respect of factual differences, the apotheosis of multicultural co habitation and hypercorrective discourse: the aesthetisation of otherness, together with enthusiast, but often schematic ‘festive’ culture representation. 3) Degradation of ‘otherness’: discourse of power, narratives of civilisation differences, and oriental –western dichotomy.
It is typical for the teachers and institution leaders working in the 8 th district, that they present, interpret their attitudes toward foreign children in the same conceptual framework as their attitudes, experiences with the Roma minority. In their narratives, especially in case of children of Asian origin the ‘culturist discourse’ can be recognised, in particular in the narratives of ‘festive’ integration, such as a story about two Vietnamese boys, who played in Hungarian cockade and the traditional costume of Hungarian cavalrymen in the school ceremony at 15 th March, (remembering the Hungarian revolution in 1848), or a story told by one of the headmasters about a Chinese girl who performs Hungarian folk dances.
According to interviewees Asians are very disciplined, they work hard – this is the reason what, according to narratives of interviewees, makes it acceptable that they often employ
46 Szilassy Eszter Árendás Zsuzsa: „Mi már a cigány gyerekek kapcsán megtanultuk a másságot” menekült gyerekek és az ıket tanító pedagógusok diskurzusai in: Feischmidt Margit Nyíri Pál (ed.) Nem kívánt gyerekek? Külföldi gyerekek magyar iskolákban, Budapest: Sík Kiadó
47 Szilassy Eszter Árendás Zsuzsa: „Mi már a cigány gyerekek kapcsán megtanultuk a másságot” menekült gyerekek és az ıket tanító pedagógusok diskurzusai in: Feischmidt Margit Nyíri Pál (ed.) Nem kívánt gyerekek? Külföldi gyerekek magyar iskolákban, Budapest: Sík Kiadó p. 178.
69 ’supplementary grannies’ for their children (a women who take care of them not only in the afternoons, but often at nights as well) a habit basically deprecated in Hungarian cultural context. ’They [Asians] are really disciplined people, it is sure, that they conform maximally, they keep the rules of the institution from A to Z, they pay in time, so we don’t have any problem with them.’ ’This is partly an exigency [that they leave their children to ‘supplementary grannies’] because they have to work, the parents of our children are not the bosses, do not belong to the rich Chinese, they are employees in commerce and catering. The other thing is cultural differences, because in China, it is usually not the mother, but the grandmother who raises the children.’
Interviewees regard Asian children as smart and intelligent, they often emphasise, that their Asian students take part in local school competitions, e.g. in chess, or even in Hungarian grammar. Teachers are proud of them, in part evidently as their pedagogic success. ‘Asian people are immensely disciplined, children develop very quickly, they have Sunday schools and summer schools, and they make up arrears of study very quickly. (…) That is sure, that we don’t have any problem with them, they have an immense adaptability, they are smart, and Chinese children perform the most beautiful folk dances here.’
‘If there is an effect [of Asian children on the school] that is rather positive. They are really disciplined, hard working and we didn’t have any problems with them – unlike our children – never have any kind of problem like they don’t keep their exercise book in order, or don’t watch out their gear. They are precise in everything; they have beautiful clean exercise books, and no violence, no aggression is present among them, which happens more often with our children, so they can only learn good patterns from them.’
’Now there are two schoolboys, one in the 5 th the other in 7 th grade, who regularly take part in chess tournaments, and they are in the school all the day to practice for the tournaments. And if there is a chess tournament at the weekend, the parents commit them to the teacher, or bring and take the children themselves.’
Although as a consequence of the language difficulties, communication with parents is not significant, teachers did not evaluate it as a grave problem, since for important events they are able to find interpreters. For the rest, they perceive the situation as Asian parents’ respect towards the school i.e. ‘they leave the system of education working’ without intruding into it or forcing their views on it. In addition, parents back up by continuing their children’s’ education.
Regarding the issue of integration vs. conflicts, leaders of pre school institutions (kindergarten and crèche) said, that among younger children (between 0 6 years) no problem regarding ’otherness’ appears, children are not prejudiced. Prejudices appear only later, during the development of identity, in primary school. Even more interesting is, that parents of small children do not show prejudices either, with only a few flagrant exceptions where non Hungarian fellows of their children in kindergarten annoys them. ‘Among children, there are no conflicts based on such differences. If they see African, Chinese, or even Roma babies on the street or on the playground, it means no problem, it is rather positive. It is only later, at 5 7 years of age, when they began to reject otherness. (…) We should manage to keep the open attitude, which seems to be natural among little ones, at older ages as well.’
Besides culturist discourses which prevail in the narratives, universalistic is supposed to exist as well. In the interview allusions for conflicts were scarce; however, it can be assumed that
70 the actual number of conflicts is in fact higher, partly as a result of the interview situation, since leaders did not want to put their institutions in bad light. Even if they admitted the existence of conflicts, they mentioned it in past tense, and stressed that it is limited to conflicts between Chinese and Roma. ‘Well, I see that there was a period, when Roma Chinese issue in the district was apparent, it was visible that they didn’t like each other, and it was shown by the Roma, not the Chinese. They always provoked these [Chinese] children.’
However, we did not find examples of discourse of power, at the most, a story which might be interpreted as a reflection on oriental western dichotomy: ‘[one of our students] just came back from Vietnam, got thin, we don’t know what happened but we have a lots of problems with him now.”
II.2. Access to social services
2.1 Institutions of social services
Crèches
In Hungary crèche (day nursery for 0 3 years old children) is part of the social services. The Unified Crèches’ Institution of Józsefváros operates at five locations, with the capacity of hosting 360 children from the district. Foreign citizens are entitled to avail crèche services, with the same conditions as Hungarians, if they have a certificate of vaccination, and officially registered address in the district. For EU citizens all social services are available equally to Hungarians, for citizens from outside the EU employment or refugee status might serve as the basis of entitlement.
Nurses working in crèches can recognise foreign origin by names, accordingly – as in the case of educational statistics ethnic Hungarians are invisible. They host children from African, as well as from Asian origin (mainly Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean).
Similarly to schools, staff of crèches is well acquainted with the phenomenon that Asian families employ au pairs or ‘supplementary grannies’ that take care for the children: while their parents work at the Chinese market, they collect them from crèche or kindergarten in the afternoon or look after them at the weekend. Around the Szigony street housing estate 5 6 persons undertake regular baby sitting for years, in some cases they take care for 6 7 children together.
Family Counselling Service
According to the leader of the Family Counselling Service (FCS), they do not have much contacts with the foreign citizens living in the district, none the less foreigners who have a valid residence permit and have their officially registered address here are entitled for their services with the same condition as Hungarians. However only the 2 3 per cent of their clients are foreign citizens (in 2006 they worked with 3900 families, so the number of foreign families was 80 120). This number also includes Roma families from Romania, who arrive in
71 the country with a tourist visa, and try to work here illegally, although in principle they have no entitlement for the services.
In the last ten years they had approximately 80 100 ethnic Hungarian clients from neighbouring countries, mainly from Transylvania, since 2000 also from Yugoslavia (Voivodina, adjacent to the Hungarian border) The Transylvanians they met were usually married to a Hungarian, or they disposed temporary residence permit, so what the FCS had to do was not a complex family care, but provision of information on flats for rent or about job opportunities.
Chinese and other Asians are absolutely missing from the clientele of the FCS, although they do know about their presence in the district, and sometimes they also get into contact with them since some of their clients work as ‘supplementary grannies’ for Chinese children, thus social workers tend to meet 6 8 Chinese children during their family visits at these households.
The third group of foreigners are refugees. The number of recognised refugees in the district is low, in 2006 34 persons were registered in this category. In principle, the mandate of FCS covers recognised refugees, however, the institution is not prepared to provide services for them: the staff lacks English language skills (only a few social workers speak English) and does not have knowledge and information about immigration as a phenomenon. Accordingly, almost no refugees appear in their clientele. At present they have three refugee clients, the FCS helps them mostly in coping with administrative issues. In most cases when refugees contact them for support, FCS turns to Menedék Association for Migrants (an NGO aiming to help migrants arriving to Hungary, see in detail in the chapter on culture) for help.
Finally, Romanian Roma compose a particular group of foreigners. They often come to the offices of FCS, generally at Friday afternoon, in case they did not manage to catch a bus or coach back home and they do not have any place to reside during the weekend – it happens at least once in every month. They also come to the Service in case food aid or clothes are distributed. They are formally not entitled to obtain these supports since not being Hungarian citizens or legal migrants; however, in case they have the opportunity, they try to help them. ‘Usually it is they [Romanian Roma] who find us, they are really in trouble. In addition, language is a problem in these cases since most of them speak neither Hungarian nor English, that’s why we can’t help them many times.’
2.2. Housing
As a result of the privatisation of former state tenements after the transition after 1988 90, nowadays the overwhelming majority of the housing stock in Hungary is in private propriety. While in the EU 15 countries 39 per cent of the housing stock is tenement, in Hungary only 5 per cent of the stock is owned by the local governments, these are the ones functioning as subsidised public tenements. We do not have any reliable estimations about the proportion of private rentals, according to the official statistics they comprise no more than 2 3 per cent of the total housing stock, however, their actual proportion is supposed to be higher, if we calculate on the widespread practice of illegal rents. Out of the 845.000 flats located in Budapest 12 per cent is rental flats, out of which 6 per cent is in the property of local governments, while 6 per cent is the official ratio of private tenements.
72 According to the Act LXXVIII of 1993 on Housing 48 , discrimination between Hungarian and foreign citizens is illegal. After the EU accession foreign citizens arriving from EU countries have equal rights as Hungarians in several issues. The operation of the stock of subsidised rental flats and the provision of housing maintenance subsidies is in the mandate of the local governments. As a result, conditions of eligibility for subsidised public housing as well as for housing maintenance subsidies vary from settlement to settlement, in case of Budapest, from district to district. Accordingly, no data are available at the national, regional or even the municipal level; hence below we will discuss only the situation in the 8 th district.
Subsidised public rental flats
The rules on renting of flats owned by the local government are regulated by the 41/2003. (VII. 11.) resolution of the local government, 49 according to which, foreign citizens can apply for subsidised tenements with the same conditions as Hungarians, if they have an officially registered address in the district. Even before passing the above mentioned decree, the conditions of eligibility were practically the same, based on Act LXXVIII of 1993 on Housing according to which citizenship of the applicants for subsidised public rental flat was insignificant from the point of view of the procedure (the Act defined only indicators strongly linked to social status as relevant).
In the 8 th district – in contrast to numerous other settlements or districts – the proportion of public rental flats is relatively high, at present the local government manages some 6.800 flats, which comprises 17 per cent of the total housing stock of the district. Compared to the needs it is still insufficient, especially since the “mobile” part of the stock is very low, only some 80 100 flats become vacant – therefore accessible for new applicants – per year.
Foreign citizens – although they are formally eligible typically do not resort for the subsidised rental flats, staff of the Housing Department of the local government can only recall one or two of such cases. According to the interviewees foreign citizens tend to live either in their own properties or in – mainly officially not registered private rental flats, the number of those living in public rental flats is close to zero. 50 Foreign citizens might also live in public rental flats in case they get married with a Hungarian citizen; however, according the staff of the Housing Department the number of such cases is also minuscule.
A few years ago a group of foreigners from Romania (mainly Hungarians from Transylvania) arrived to the district, they got subsidy from the state, and hence they did not appear in the local social care system, as applicants for subsidised public rental flats. In the first part of the 1990s a relatively numerous group arriving from Romania lived in the district as arbitrary flat occupants, but according to experiences of the Housing Department it is not characteristic any more.
48 1993. évi LXXVIII. Törvény a lakások és helyiségek bérletére, valamint az elidegenítésükre vonatkozó egyes szabályokról 49 Budapest Józsefvárosi Önkormányzat tulajdonában álló lakások bérbeadásának feltételeirıl, valamint a lakbér mértékérıl, 41/2003. (VII.11.) ök. sz. 50 As in the case of educational institutions, ethnic Hungarians, who constitute a significant part of foreign citizens are out of the perception of staff of the local government, they are ‘invisible’.
73 Housing maintenance subsidy
Among the conditions of eligibility for social subsidies in the 8 th district, citizenship does not play a role (hence, formally it is irrelevant). This is the case for the housing maintenance subsidy as well, foreign citizens with a residence permit and a registered address in the district – the latter being the basic condition for obtaining any kind of social subsidies from the local government – may apply for that.
There is no available official data on the number of applications submitted by foreigners (as a reason for that, staff of the local government referred to the insignificance of citizenship in their procedures), according to the interviews, it may not be more than a few sporadic cases, but again, their view is only based upon noticing foreign sound names, therefore ethnic Hungarians are not perceived.
Private housing
On the whole, the bulk of foreign citizens solve their housing on private ways, the two method of which being private rental or the purchase of own property. As we mentioned above, private rentals are often unregistered, a phenomenon widespread in Hungary, not only in case of foreigners but in general, in order to avoid related tax payment. However lack of registration can lead to specific problems, since in most cases it means the persons concerned do not obtain a registered address in the district, therefore they are not entitled to apply for several social subsidies and educational services.
According to an expert of Magdolna negyed one of the most run down areas of the district, and also an area showing a higher ratio of foreigners some of the residents of subsidised public rental flats illegally rent out their flats – or parts of it – to foreigners, mainly Romanians (partly ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania). Private rental is also prevailing in the area, landlords are always Hungarians in this case. ’Romanians’ live in 10 20 per cent of the buildings, typically in the better houses. Residents usually do not like them, because – as they say – they live very congested and they are loud, however, many of them actually rent their flats for them. In the higher status buildings the slogan is ‘no Romanian, or Chinese’ – i.e. the owners agree not to let persons belonging to any of these groups to their flats, but here ethnic Hungarians from Romania are mainly not included in the term ‘Romanian’.
Interviews referred to a still widespread practice of the rental of sleeping lots (not necessarily beds but also mattresses or even only a piece of ground) only for the night, 10 15 lots in one single flat. This form of accommodation is present at the above mentioned Magdolna negyed, e.g. an interviewee reported a – since then, demolished – house where in every single small flat 10 15 people slept each night. The practice can be found in other parts of the district as well. It is mainly itinerant (commuting), usually illegal migrant workers from Transylvania, who tend to accommodate within these circumstances. A specific example involving practically the same quality of accommodation is when workers are accommodated by constructors in houses waiting for demolition, near the construction site (part of the district undergoes demolition and reconstruction of buildings) the local policy recently met such a case, where 50 people were placed in such run down houses, on mattresses.
Chinese (also overrepresented in Magdolna negyed) live in better quality and socially more consolidated houses as well. In some houses by now the majority of tenants or owners are
74 Chinese; such cases were reported in the Szigony street housing estate and Magdolna negyed. In newly built houses of the latter area Chinese families seem to concentrate, who moved here from physically deteriorated, lower status houses of the area.
Orczy Forum
Orczy Forum is one of the remarkable developments of the district in the last few years. Interviewees reported a notable foreign population in the buildings of Orczy Forum – near to the Chinese market.
Construction of Orczy Forum began in the mid 1990s, but in the building most recently finished there are still available flats. The project includes both office and residential buildings. Until now a sum of 525 flats were constructed. According to a representative of the constructor, foreign citizens, mostly Asians do live in these building, either as owners or as tenants. Foreign citizens who have been living in the country for a longer period, and managed to save sufficient money usually appear as owners. (For example one of the owners is a Chinese man, who lives in Hungary for 10 years, and besides his own flat he bought five other flats for investment, and to letting. His total investment in the purchase reaches approx. 40 million HUF, approx. 160.550 EUR) The interviewee reported several ethnic Hungarian families from Transylvania, who moved to Hungary, or lead a ‘dioecious’ life (i.e. maintain a flat both in Transylvania and in Hungary, and use both of them, by turns).
The general social character of the houses is consolidated. Many of the flats were bought by families from the countryside for their children studying in Budapest universities (the area has very good transport links, moreover, many of the universities are located nearby), other flats were purchased as investments, by various people, including foreigners as well (e.g. the already mentioned Chinese man, a Frenchman living in Switzerland, a historician from Iraq etc.). Part of these flats stays empty, others are let. The ratio of Roma is low.
Asians living here usually work at the nearby Chinese market. The interviewee reported no conflicts between Asians and Hungarian. However, Vietnamese, who live here mainly as lodgers, seem to cause some problems according to neighbours. Their fluctuation is significant, new lodgers arrive in every 2 3 month, however there are some 4 5 owners among Vietnamese too. According to the interviewee Vietnamese have a bad reputation, because they over use flats (they live congested and even more people use the flat e.g. for bathing, cooking) and – as neighbours put it – ‘their meals smell bad’. On the other hand the interviewee spoke about a couple, where the husband comes from Ghana and the wife from Vietnam, their three children were born in Hungary, and have absolutely no problems with neighbours.
The other typical group of inhabitants of the buildings is ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania. A part of them bought flats here for their children who attend Budapest universities, but most of them actually work in the building industry.
Summary, conclusions, ending remarks
The number of foreign citizen students in primary and secondary education, although it underwent significant increase (from 5.000 to 12.000) still comprises only a small proportion of the total school population in Hungary (less than one per cent). The composition of foreign citizen students in Hungary is very specific, since the overwhelming majority of them – three
75 quarter of the total school population, with certain differences between school types – arrives from neighbouring countries, mainly Romania, and is ethnic Hungarian, so speaks native or high standard Hungarian. The number of non Hungarian foreign children in education is insignificant in statistical terms (approx. 3 4.000 persons), most of them originates from outside the EU, mainly from China and Vietnam.
In line with that, as an analysis on public education in Hungary formed it ‘the system of public education – spontaneously – uses the pedagogic toolkit of assimilation. This – paradoxically – totally fulfils the needs and interests of Chinese community, since it aims at total conformity, nonetheless it is exactly the Chinese community where distance between cultural traditions of the community and the cultural and language context of the host society is the largest.’ 51
Unlike Western Europe, where in many countries (e.g. the Netherlands) the presence of migrants in education is prevailing, it poses specific problems for the system of education therefore the issue has to be dealt with comprehensively, in case of Hungary, due to their low proportion in the total school population, the presence of migrant children does not have a significant effect on the system as a whole. Nevertheless, the distribution of foreign students in Hungary is uneven; in certain areas and institutions the proportion of foreign students highly exceeds the country average, which makes it necessary to develop a conscious, systematic pedagogic and methodological approach towards their education.
Our experiences in educational institutions in the 8 th district of Budapest led to the conclusion that from the viewpoint of schools it is only non Hungarian children who “count” as foreigners, those who originate from abroad but speak Hungarian do not pose any kinds of problems or challenges, in many cases neither teachers nor fellow students ever reveal their “otherness”.
Interviewed leaders of institutions generally reported positive experiences regarding non Hungarian foreigner children (mostly Chinese and Vietnamese) as well as their families, however, of course it is partly a consequence of the fact that non Hungarian children concentrate in more tolerant, open minded institutions. Moreover, interviewees find Asian children – apart from the task of teaching them for Hungarian language – in many cases less problematic, than their “own” – that is, non migrant – children, among whom many Roma children can be found. 52 They agreed that Asian children are very disciplined, hard working and talented, they are proud of them since they attend competitions – even in Hungarian grammar – which they evaluate as their own pedagogic success. Contacts between institutions and parents is loose, however, teachers do not treat it as a nuisance since in case of important matters they are able to find interpreters.
As far as social care is concerned, our experiences show that foreigners do not impose a burden on systems of social care (housing, social subsidies etc.), they do not apply for social supplies or subsidies. They secure housing for themselves without the involvement of the local government, either by means of private rental or by purchase of flat, and usually do not have financial difficulties, or even if they have, they solve it within their social network (family members, friends) and do not ask for “external” support. Nevertheless it seems that
51 Keller Judit – Mártonfi György: Oktatási egyenlıtlenségek és speciális igények in: Jelentés a közoktatásról 2006. http://www.oki.hu/oldal.php?tipus=kiadvany&kod=Jelentes2006#tart 52 Challenges and problems referring to education of the Roma could not be dealt with int he present study, for information see e.g. http://www.oki.hu/oldal.php?tipus=kiadvany&kod=integration
76 the local government and other relevant institutions do not put any specific efforts to reach foreigners (it refers especially to those who do not speak Hungarian), at least to inform them about available supplies and subsidies – not to mention complicated and non transparent bureaucratic routes which is difficult to cope with even for natives.
Tensions originating from discrepancies between the level of integration of parents and children, well observable in some Western European countries, might appear in Hungary as well, but at present it appears mainly as a possible scenario, in practice there are no significant signs of them. ‘Just look at my little Ucskál, he is Mongolian and of course you can see that he’s Mongolian, he’s not European, but he was born in Hungary, he will grow up here and what happens if when he’s 15 he’ll be told
77 Appendix
Appendix 1. The structure of the Hungarian educational system Source: Oktatás Statisztikai Évkönyv 2005/2006, www.om.gov.hu
78
79 Appendix 2: Statistical data of the Ministry of Education
Central- 8th Hungary Hungarian Budapest district Education Kindergarten Number of school population, 2006 327644 90626 49335 1605 Number of school population, 1996 395518 100662 59476 2307
Number of immigrants in school population, 2006 1584 1154 1011 67 Number of immigrants in school population, 1996 - - - - Primary school Number of school population, 2006 831262 210694 113214 3468 Number of school population, 1996 980522 240034 144508 5291
Number of immigrants in school population, 2006 4496 2840 2241 87 Number of immigrants in school population, 1996 2465 1118 958 - Secondary school Number of school population, 2006 534423 164641 130693 11446 Number of school population, 1996 462170 146017 121092 -
Number of immigrants in school population, 2006 4921 2385 2147 188 Number of immigrants in school population, 1996 2255 590 525 -
Notes: Cells signed with ‘–‘ refer ti missing data. Data on secondary schools include data of grammar schools and secondary vocational schools.
80 Appendix 3. : Number of foreign students in the Losonci Square Primary School
School year 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 1. class Chinese 1 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 1 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 3 Vietnamese 2 Vietnamese 3 Romanian 1 Romanian 1 Kazakh 1 Ukrainian 1 Romanian 1 2. class Chinese 1 Chinese 2 Vietnamese 3 Vietnamese 1 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 5 Vietnamese 2 Romanian 1 Vietnamese 1 Romanian 1 Russian 1 Romanian 1 3. class Vietnamese 5 Vietnamese 5 Chinese 1 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 1 Vietnamese 1 Vietnamese 3 Romanian 1 4. class Chinese1 Chinese 1 Chinese 1 Chinese 1 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 3 Vietnamese 4 Vietnamese 3 Vietnamese 1 Vietnamese 5 Russian1 Ukranian 1 Russian 1 Italian 1 Romanian 1 5. class Chinese 3 Chinese 1 Chinese 1 Chinese 1 Chinese 2 Vietnamese 1 Vietnamese 2 Vietnamese 3 Vietnamese 4 Vietnamese 2 Mongol 1 Ukranian 1 Italian 1 Serbian 1 Romanian 1 Egypt 1 Nigerian 1 Romanian 1 6. class Vietnamese 3 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 2 Chinese 1 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 2 Ukranian 1 Vietnamese 3 Vietnamese 2 Mongol 1 Egypt 1 Serbian1 Nigerian 1 Romanian 1 7. class Chinese 1 Vietnamese 3 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 1 Vietnamese 2 Vietnamese 3 Vietnamese 2 Romanian 1 Mongol 1 Romanian 1 Serbian 1 8. class Vietnamese 1 Vietnamese 3 Vietnamese 3 Chinese 1 Vietnamese 1 Serbian 1 Romanian 1 Vietnamese 1 Mongol 1 Total Chinese 7 Chinese 6 Chinese 3 Chinese 6 Chinese 4 Vietnamese Vietnamese Vietnamese Vietnamese Vietnamese 23 24 18 14 18 Serbian 2 Szerb 1 Mongol 1 Mongol 1 Italian 1 Mongol 1 Mongol 1 Russian 1 Italian 1 Romanian 2 Nigerian 1 Russian 1 Romanian 3 Egypt 1 Egypt 1 Kazakh 1 Nigerian 1 Ukranian 2 Romanian 1 Russian 1 Romanian 4 Serbian 1 Romanian 4 Ukranian 2
Total 40 40 27 24 26 Non ethnic 36 34 23 23 23 Hungarian * The Romanian and Ukrainian students are not part of the „official” table, because they are ethnic Hungarian, they do not need any kind of help.
81 III. Foreigners in the economy
We are about to present the effect that the foreign citizens with residence permit have on the local economy through the situation of the employed foreign citizens and those who operate private business. Beyond the analysis of the statistic data it is impossible to give a realistic idea about the effect of foreigners on the local economy due to black economy present on every side – therefore concerning the employment of foreigners as well.53 To provide a relevant analysis besides the data analysis we often rely upon interviews conducted with persons involved in the local economy.
Conditions of employment of foreigners in Hungary
Joining the European Union has brought about a number of changes in the employment of foreigners. It is a common rule in Hungary that foreign citizens can only work in the country in the possession of a work permit. Starting from the date Hungary joined the Union (1 st May 2004) there is a new regulation according to which citizens of the European Economic Community and their relatives can work in Hungary without a work permit. This regulation can however be applied based on the principle of reciprocity: if a member state of the EU does not provide free employment to the Hungarian citizens on its own territory, its citizens cannot work in Hungary without a permit either. On this basis, employees arriving from EU member countries can be classified into the following three categories: - citizens of old and new member countries opening their labour market for the Hungarian citizens – they can work without a permit - citizens of old member countries considerably improving the admission of the Hungarian citizens into the market (not only EU member countries but other EEC countries as well) – they are provided a permit without a review of the labour market situation - citizens of other old member counties not belonging to any of the above categories can obtain a work permit according to the general rules.
The new member states which joined to the EU in 2004 do not apply employment restrictions among each other; however, the fact of employment should be registered.
With respect to those old EU member countries that do not provide free employment to the new EU member states, similarly to other countries, Hungary applies the system of green card. Citizens of such states require a green card certificate according to which, if they can certify a 12 month continuous and permitted employment in Hungary on the 1 st May 2004 or any time after that, they can work in Hungary without a work permit.
Hungary opens up its labour market gradually and in accordance with the labour demands in front of the employees of Romania and Bulgaria 54 which joined the EU on the 1 st January 2007. Hungary takes the opportunity to apply transitional restrictions in the first two years, however, this only applies to individual employees, there is no opportunity for the country to decide in case of employment related to service provision. The essence of the regulation is
53 A survey carried out in 2004 estimated the number of foreigners working illegally in Hungary to be between 70,000 80,000 Economy and dual citizenship, The Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2004. 54 Statutory order 354/2006.
82 that employment for those arriving from these two countries stays permit bound, the facilitation of admission to the labour market will only be realised where there is a need for excess workforce. The definition of the fields of gradual opening takes place based on the labour market prognosis and the work permits issued to foreigners in the preceding period.
Work permits must in all cases be required by the employer from the locally assigned labour centre. In case of employing a foreign citizen the Hungarian employer must deal with a so called work force request procedure. In the course of the procedure the locally assigned labour centre examines whether a Hungarian citizen could be placed into the given position or not. In case no eligible Hungarian applicant can be found within 15 days, the work permit for the foreign citizen can be required. In the possession of the permit the foreign employee can apply for a work visa at the Hungarian embassy or consulate general at his place of residence. The permit obtained during the long procedure is only valid for the given job; it cannot be used at another workplace.
Hungary
Foreign employees
According to the current regulations, in Hungary the Minister in charge of labour issues (at present the Minister of Employment and Labour) determines the number of work permits that can be given to foreigners annually. According to the official statement of the minister for 2007, this year at the same time maximum 83 thousand foreigners can be employed with a work permit in Hungary.
Since 1989/1990 the number of foreign employees in Hungary has continuously been rising. From the middle of the 1990's the intensity of the growth increased, which is well indicated by the fact that while in 1995 some 20 thousand, in 2005 more than 60 thousand work permits were issued and the number of noted registrations and green card certificates summed up to almost 20 thousand. In 2006 the Labour Centres issued 52.505 general and 2.216 agricultural seasonal work permits, 16.132 registrations were taken and 275 green card certificates were issued.
19. Figure: Number of work permits issued to foreigners between 1995-2005
According to the data of the Employment Office according to the situation on 31 st December
83 2006 altogether 64.626 foreign employees were working in Hungary from more than 100 countries. Considering the citizenship of the foreign employees it can be stated that 80 per cent of the foreigners working here legally originated from three countries: Romania, the Ukraine and Slovakia. Examining the distribution of the permits issued in the last ten years broken down by nation (see Figure 20) it can be seen that it is traditionally employees arriving from Romania which constitute the most significant group of foreign workforce in the Hungarian economy, their proportion takes almost half of the total number of employees (45.4 per cent in 2005). Last year they were followed by Slovakian employees with a proportion of 25.8 per cent, then Ukrainian citizens with a proportion of 11.9 per cent. The proportion of employees from Serbia and Montenegro is 2.6 per cent and the proportion of China in this regard is 1.9 per cent. Considering the number of work permits, registrations and green cards valid until 31 st December 2006 it is only these source countries which send more than 1.000 employees to the Hungarian labour market. From the counties that keep the work permit rules 275 persons obtained the green card last year.
It can be stated that Hungarian labour opportunities are primarily taken by employees of Hungarian ethnicity who do not have language difficulties. For long years (similarly in 2006) most of the permits: 33.140 general and 1.900 agricultural seasonal work permits were issued to Romanian citizens. The second largest number of permits was obtained by employees of mostly Hungarian ethnicity from the Ukraine: altogether 8.900 general and 280 agricultural seasonal work permits. 1.900 work permits were issued to citizens from Serbia Montenegro, mainly of Hungarian origin. The number of permits issued to the Chinese employees was over a thousand, altogether 1.470. Citizens of Mongolia obtained 790, citizens of Japan obtained 730 and citizens of Germany received 710 work permits. The Austrian, French, American and Vietnamese employees obtained over 300 work permits. Less than 300 employees received a work permit from other countries.
20. Figure: The number of issued work permits and permitted extensions by country of origin
The sectorial allocation of the issued work permits shows (see Figure 21) that almost 40 per cent of the foreign employees is taken up by industry and building industry, followed by services, commerce and catering. Employees in agriculture apply for seasonal work permits almost without exception.
84
21. Figure: The number of work permits valid until 31st December 2005 according to branches of national economy
The above characteristics of the foreign work force – with regard to the sectorial distribution and nationality – are supported by experiences of a private labour exchange bureau operating in the 8 th district, but with a country wide territory of action. The company realises a client circulation of 500 1.000 persons annually, their clientele is comprised almost totally of employees arriving from the neighbouring countries with Hungarian mother tongue. Almost 70 per cent of the successfully managed employees come from Romania, 20 per cent from the Ukraine and 10 per cent from Serbia. Moreover, each year altogether 20 50 clients originate from African countries. The vast majority of the clients who get in contact with the company and who arrive in Hungary with the intention of being employed is of low qualifications, which is actually in harmony with the needs of the employers, because a greater number of foreigners are employed typically in the less qualified fields of building and processing industries.
According to data of the National Employment Office, private labour exchange bureaus relayed altogether 2.074 foreign citizens to the labour market in 2006 55 , most of which to the processing industry (979 persons). From the EU member countries, the greatest number of employees originated from Slovakia. From the other European countries most of the employees originated from the Ukraine.
Scarce professions
A tremendous sum of direct foreign capital investment arrived in the Central European ex socialist countries, Hungary among them, in the past few years. As a result, the demand for qualified work force has considerably risen. In Hungary, it is mainly processing industry, building industry, health care and information technology that is characterised by the scarcity of labour force.
In case of processing industry, scarcity of work force results from low wages earned among hard working conditions, and the lack of qualified workforce. The first reason is prevailing especially in case of textile trade, leader and shoe production. The second reason refers especially to machine and instrument production.
55 National Employment Office, Summary of the activity of private labour exchange bureaus in 2006
85 In other fields it is large scale emigration of work force that leads to the lack of available employees. The two most endangered areas are health care and information technology. Of course, in case of foreign employment, salary plays the main role, however, the better technological level, possibilities of professional promotion and more favourable working conditions are also important.
In addition to the above, the low level of territorial mobility of the Hungarian employees plays an important role in scarcity of work force in some areas.
Enterprises in foreign possession
After the change of the regime from the beginning of the 1990's with the disintegration of the earlier corporate enterprise structure, parallel to the privatisation processes, the small and middle size companies suddenly began to grow in number. The number of enterprises has, however with smaller setbacks but almost evenly, been increasing up to now. The number of incorporated individual companies and partnerships in 2005 in Hungary was approx. one million, out of which not much more than 1.5 per cent was the proportion of enterprises entirely in foreign possession (See table 1). In 2005 there was a slight decrease in the number of enterprises in foreign possession compared to 2003 2004.
Type of 2000 2003 2004 2005 enterprise Of Hungarian 10 244 8 752 8 403 7 790 and foreign interest Of foreign 16 390 18 041 18 072 16 997 interest Total 26 634 26 793 26 475 24 787
2. Table: The number of enterprises of foreign interests Note: The number of companies actually in operation is less.
It is worth examining the distribution of the subscribed capital of the enterprises in foreign possession operating in Hungary (see Appendix 1). 56 From the point of view of our analysis the only relevant part is companies founded by foreigners in Hungary that are mostly micro and small companies employing 0 50 persons. Apparently, among the companies in foreign possession the capital share of the micro and small companies is considerably smaller than in case of individual companies and partnerships with Hungarian ownership. The share of the enterprises in foreign possession that employ less than 10 persons slightly exceeds 12 per cent compared to the total sum of subscribed capital in the total number of foreign enterprises, while the same proportion in case of the individual companies in Hungarian ownership exceeds 50 per cent, in case of partnerships it is close to 30 per cent.
The proportion of capital among the enterprises in foreign possession shows a much powerful shift in the direction of the corporate enterprises (internationally known commercial chains and other production units of multinational firms). This shows that out of the enterprises in foreign possession that are in operation in the country the effect of the corporate enterprises is
56 The status of small and middle size enterprises 2003 2004, Annual report. Ministry of Economy and Transport
86 much greater on the national economy than that of the small and middle size companies.
Central Hungary region and Budapest
The Central Hungarian Region is the most developed region of Hungary from the point of view of economy. The production in this area takes 45 per cent of the GDP, however, it is important to mention that the share of Budapest is 35 per cent, while the share of Pest county without the capital itself is only 10 per cent.
After the change of the regime the overall transformation of the structure of the economy and the conditions on the labour market resulted in considerable setbacks in the field of employment. By the middle of the 1990's the number of jobs decreased dramatically also in Budapest, as a consequence of the rearrangement of the labour market unemployment became multitudinous. The decrease in the number of the employed stopped by the end of the 1990's, and then employment slowly started to improve. Later on, typically as a result of the economical performance and the decrease in investment, the increase in the number of the employed stopped, which, however, at a slow rate but again started to rise in the last two years.
The situation of Budapest is well illustrated by the breakout measure of the gross mean wages compared to the mean value in Pest county. While in 2006 in Budapest the monthly gross mean wages of the employed was 219.882 HUF (approx. 880 EUR), in Pest county it was only 151.223 HUF (approx. 600 EUR).
The proportion of the registered unemployed is also way under the national average in Budapest (2,2 per cent in April 2007).
The dominance of Budapest and the favourable economic situation of the region also shows in the number of employees and entrepreneurs arriving from abroad. Examining the regional distribution of the issued work permits to foreigners, it is obvious that the vast majority of the employees stay in the CH region, especially in Budapest (see Figure 22). Out of the 52.505 general permits issued in 2006, 40.412 permits were issued in the Central Hungarian region, 3.818 permits were issued in the South Great Plain and 2.959 in the Central Transdanubian region.
22. Figure: The number of issued work permits and permitted extensions in 2006 by the region
87
In 2006 16.120 persons worked in Hungary out of those who were obliged to only register (not obliged to obtain a work permit), from the countries joining the EU in 2004. Almost all of them were of Slovakian citizenship (15.300 persons). Among them 10.460 persons were employed in Central Transdanubia, mostly in economically developed towns close to the border (Gyır, Komárom, Esztergom).
The CH region leads the competition considering the number of enterprises and the extent of capital as well. 272.871 companies were in operation in 2004, 70 per cent of which resided in Budapest, 30 per cent in Pest county (see Appendix 2). Geographical dispersion of foreign enterprises inside the region is uneven: most of the enterprises are located in the inner districts of Budapest and in the Western and Northern agglomeration area.
The number of enterprises per 1000 inhabitants is also the greatest in the Central Hungarian region, especially in the capital (see Appendix 3). Considering the number of employees in the region, the distribution is similar to the national average: the greatest part of the partnerships are small companies employing 0 10 persons, while the proportion of the enterprises employing more than 250 persons is less than 1 per cent. There are 131.000 individual enterprises in the region, the importance and income of which is way behind that of the partnerships in most of the cases (these are in part “coerced” enterprises in order to avoid unemployment or to decrease otherwise very high tax obligations). The number of such individual enterprises exceeds the national average in outer areas of the region (further from the capital) and the relatively disadvantaged South Eastern part of the region (adjacent to the Great Plain). Regional disparities are also shown by the fact that income before taxation per enterprise in Budapest is 2.5 times as much as the regional average.
The importance of the central region is significant considering the regional distribution of the foreign capital arriving into the country. 61.3 per cent of the enterprises of foreign interest and 64.3 per cent of the foreign capital is placed in the region. Considering the branch distribution, 40.4 per cent of the foreign capital flew in the field of commerce, 34.9 per cent in the field of real estate affairs, only 8.9 per cent preferred the field of industry and 4.2 per cent was invested in the field of building industry. Considering the regional distribution it can be stated that the major part of the enterprises with foreign capital is situated in Budapest and adjacent to the main roads leading into the capital.
Two breakout measures must be mentioned out of the distribution of enterprises based on activity: out of the partnerships in operation in 2004, 45 per cent of those that run in the field of services are located in the Central Hungarian region. The same proportion is 27 per cent of those enterprises that run in the field of industry and building industry. The concentration of commercial enterprises is the highest nationwide in the region, almost half of the enterprises are located here. The commercial enterprises of the region carry out tasks of regional and national level as well. The retail trade structure has significantly been changed by shopping centres of foreign enterprises with high capital force appearing in the recent past, which satisfies a significant part of the needs of the retail supply both in the agglomeration settlements and in Budapest. In recent years the appearance of large retail units made the operation of many smaller scale retail enterprises – which however play an important role in employment and close to home supply – impossible.
Economic suburbanisation, that is, the geographical dispersion (de concentration) of economic units in the region is present in the CH region, either in the form of moving out of
88 companies from the capital or in the form of settling of new companies in the agglomeration. This is the reason why the industry is gradually played down in Budapest and the industry in the Pest county has become closer to the countryside average (increase in the production value, stagnation of the number of employees).
8th district
In comparison with the inner districts of Budapest parallel with the considerable decrease of the role of industry, the 8 th district still has relatively large industrial areas, mainly in outer Józsefváros. Here a site functioning earlier as the logistic centre of the Hungarian Railway Co. together with former Ganz facilities host the biggest Chinese market of the country. The Ganz industrial halls and buildings that were once developed for traditional large scale industrial production house several smaller companies today (including Chinese merchants).
Earlier, small scale retail activity was significant in the life of the district, together with traditional large scale industrial production. Small scale retail has, however, mostly vanished by today as a result of the restructuring of the service industry. 57
Considering the current labour market situation of the district it can be stated that in comparison to the average of the capital, unemployment is larger while the level of employment is significantly smaller in Józsefváros.
Foreign Employees
Foreigners in possession of a work permit do not tend to target the 8 th district since it has no significant industrial production that would require a greater number of workers.
Meanwhile, in the district, similar to the total area of Budapest, there is a great number of foreign employees who work illegally. Workers in the black market come primarily from the neighbouring countries, especially from Romania, and are mostly employed in the building industry. It is impossible to estimate the number of illegal employees working in Budapest and in the district, however, the seasonality of the building industry can have an effect on the number of workers in this field. The magnitude may be pictured by the following situation: during a recent check up more than fifty foreigners working illegally were found at only one building site in the district. Areas with an increased construction activity appear in many parts of the capital, therefore the presence of illegal workers is not only a Józsefváros specialty, however, lots of illegal migrant workers tend to reside (or at least sleep) in the district, since many of the local inhabitants rent flats or sleeping lots for such workers. Parallel with the private room rentals, the clientele of many of the one or two star hotels in the district is comprised of foreigners working here for a shorter or longer time.
Enterprises
In line with national trends, the number of enterprises in the district increased after 1989/1990. By the end of the 1990's the increase slowed down, however, in the past few years enterprise foundation spirit has been given a new impetus: there were only 10.026 enterprises
57 The medium term urban development strategy of Józsefváros 2004.
89 in operation in Józsefváros in 1998, more than 10.500 in 2002, while at present the number of incorporated enterprises exceeds 14.000 (however, only 7.665 out of them are actually in operation) 58 . Considering the individual enterprises a 10 per cent decrease took place between 1998 and 2002. There were 3.798 individual enterprises in operation in the district in 1998, and only 3.417 in 2003.
The major part of the foreigners running their enterprises in the 8 th district operates in the field of retail trade and catering. In the light of this fact the position of the sector is worth examining.
In Budapest, the number of retail trade units is the highest in the 8 th district, however, parallel to that, it is Józsefváros where the purchasing power index is the lowest 59 . In spite of the multiplication of different shopping and commercial centres in Budapest and its surroundings, the role of retail trade has further strengthened in the past few years in the district. This is shown by the fact that according to data of Rév8, the company in charge of urban renewal of the district, between 1999 and 2003 the number of shops in the district has multiplied by 1.5.
23 . Figure: Number of retail shops in the 8 th district of Budapest
Most of the businesses are situated in inner and middle Józsefváros, along busy main routes and intersections.
However, the situation of these small shops is well characterised by the fact that while the annual turnover calculated for one square meter of sales surface in case of a multinational commercial network in operation in Hungary is 1.3 million HUF (5.200 EUR), that of middle size shops in urban environment is 800.000 HUF (3.200 EUR), while that of a traditional corner shop is only around 200.000 HUF (800 EUR).60
Chinese entrepreneurs
Hungary became the regional centre of the Chinese import heading for Eastern Europe by the beginning of the 1990's. The scarcity of goods caused by the war in Yugoslavia, as well as the inability to control the compliance with the customs regulations, the Chinese merchants carried out a turnover of mainly clothes with a tremendous profit. After the consolidation of the situation in Yugoslavia and the reinforcement of the customs offices it was no longer possible to carry out a turnover as great as before. Since the EU accession it is compulsory to
58 IRM company database (http://occsz.e cegjegyzek.hu/) 59 GFK Hungária 2004 60 Baross Pál Soóki Tóth Gábor (2000): Ingatlanpiaci folyamatok és önkormányzati irányításuk lehetıségei a Budapesti Városfejlesztési Koncepcióban, in: Budapesti Negyed, Vol. VIII, No. 2.
90 obtain an import permit on goods from third countries, which further decreased the possibility of gaining extra profits 61 . In spite of all these facts the commerce of cheap Chinese clothes has enmeshed the whole country by now.
Many of the Chinese entrepreneurs arriving at the beginning of the 1990's have either gone home after a time, or they moved on to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, the currently favoured destinations are Romania and the Ukraine.
Officially about 6.000 Chinese reside currently in the country as employees, however, it is safe to say that that the reality is the multiple of this number (see also the study on demography). The number of Chinese enterprises almost equals the number of Chinese registered in the country.
Chinese arriving in Hungary and launching out on an enterprise mostly deal with commerce (80 per cent), a smaller part of them works in catering (10 per cent), unlike in Western Europe, where they deal primarily with the latter. The average annual turnover of these enterprises is almost impossible to determine. According to some estimates the major part of the Chinese enterprises dealing with retail trade carries out a turnover of 100 200 thousand USD (approx. 75 150 thousand EUR) per year and maximum ten of them may reach an annual income of 2 4 million USD (approx. 1,5 3 million EUR).62
The most ‘spectacular’ place of economic presence of the Chinese from the point of view of the city is the Chinese market (the so called Four Tigers market). The market began to develop rapidly in the middle of the 1990's since mainly those Chinese merchants could achieve a significant profit who could rent a place here. It is typical for the sales circulation of the market, that the merchants were willing to pay even 40 thousand USD (at present nearly 30.000 EUR) for a sales booth. At present, at the market it is mainly Chinese and Vietnamese merchants who offer their cheap goods mostly clothes from their fully packed booths. However, Arab merchants as well as – although on a lower scale – ethnic Hungarians from neighbouring countries also work here. The market also serves as a distribution centre besides its retail activity.
Bank of China
The Bank of China established its branch office in Budapest in 2002 for the undertaking and investing Chinese in Hungary. The services of the bank, however, do not give an alternative for the impecunious Chinese entrepreneurs or for the ones who do not have the adequate capital or cover, because the Chinese clients must fulfil the same requirements in their 'own' bank in case of applying for a loan as in any other commercial bank. According to the statement of the director of the Chinese Commercial and Information Centre the only difference between the operation of the bank and another commercial bank is that the clients can speak here in their own language.
61 Nyíri Pál: Új ázsiai migráció Kelet Európába: a magyarországi kínaiak, in: Kovács Nóra, Osvát Anna, Szarka László (ed.): Tér és Terep. Tanulmányok az etnicitás és az identitás kérdéskörébıl II. Az MTA Kisebbségkutató Intézetének évkönyve II, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, http://www.mtaki.hu/docs/ter_es_terep_02/t_es_t_02_nyiri_pal_uj_azsiai_migracio.pdf 62 Kínaiak Magyarországon, in: Hetek, Vol. XI, No. 10.
91 The economic effects of the Chinese market on the district
In the view of the local government the Józsefváros Chinese market poses basically a burden for the district. The commercial centre operating on a large territory is not in possession of the local government, so it does not benefit directly from the heavy income of the rent. The share of illegal trade is quite considerable at the market, despite regular raids performed by various authorities. The Józsefváros market was visited six times in 2006 by 220 tax officers. While at other markets experiences show that approx. 28 per cent of the merchants does not give a receipt, here the proportion of such merchants was 76 per cent on the average.
However, it is important to mention the favourable effects of the Chinese market on inhabitants of the 8 th district. It turned up in several interviews during the research that members of the Chinese community working at the market rent apartments, shops and stores in great number from the locals. In many cases they can offer occasional jobs and it is considered frequent that women of the district do babysitting in return for decent payment. The magnitude of these services cannot be evaluated, however, its importance is well illustrated by the opinion of the leader of a local nursery: ‘It is interesting that there are no negative feelings towards the Asians in the inhabitants of Józsefváros. They sometimes say that they are very nice, very kind, the only problem is that what they cook stinks, so their spices. I usually say that if the Józsefváros market leaves the area or the Chinese leave, the number of the people applying for allowance is going to quadruplicate because a considerable part of the population of the district lives on renting out apartments, babysitting and working for them as employees.' As another interviewee formed: 'So they provide a chance to get by for a considerable part of the district. There is an old lady who we managed to interview once and it turned out that she baby sits a child for 50.000 HUF a month, which is 250.000 HUF 63 for 5 children. This old lady has never had an income like that ever in her life. Even if she acts like a typical Hungarian grandmother and spends a part of this amount on the children, she keeps the rest and it is still a considerable sum. There are some who have taken the children even to live with them."
In addition, these markets do have an important role in the retail in Hungary – according to research data in the latest years every fifth Hungarian has done some shopping at one of the Chinese markets operating in Hungary 64 , out of which the Józsefváros market is unquestionably the largest.
Arabic and Persian entrepreneurs in the 8th district
In the past few years the number of entrepreneurs arriving from different Arabic countries has noticeably risen. However, the experienced above the average seclusion among the Arabic entrepreneurs makes exact analysis and exploration very difficult. Exact quantitative data are impossible to obtain, the following description is based mostly on personal talks and interviews. In many cases it is even hard to find out what nationality entrepreneurs belong to e.g. one introduces himself as an Iraqi, but it is known that he is half Persian, half Kurd so he keeps his origins a secret even from other Arabic people living in the area. The seclusion is
63 Approx. 1000 EUR 64 Nyíri Pál: Új ázsiai migráció Kelet Európába: a magyarországi kínaiak, in: Kovács Nóra, Osvát Anna, Szarka László (ed.): Tér és Terep. Tanulmányok az etnicitás és az identitás kérdéskörébıl II. Az MTA Kisebbségkutató Intézetének évkönyve II, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, http://www.mtaki.hu/docs/ter_es_terep_02/t_es_t_02_nyiri_pal_uj_azsiai_migracio.pdf
92 noticeable in other ways as well: in most of the cases it turns out that the foreign entrepreneurs are ‘self propelling’, they seek assistance for solving their problems within their own community. They have minimal contact with the local governments and the NGOs.
Their business contact system mostly reaches as far as the Arabic people living in Budapest. This is also indicated by the fact that the shops go from one hand to the other: if an Arabic entrepreneur used to rent it, it is most likely that another Arabic or Persian, maybe a Turkish entrepreneur is going to take over the rent.
Many of the entrepreneurs were once students in Hungarian universities who after finishing their studies stayed in Hungary and launched an enterprise in the district, however, they are almost as introverted as the migrants who arrived here in the past years.
Arabic enterprises are mostly high on liquidity, which promotes migration – moving away, which happens relatively often. The 8 th district is attractive because of the relatively cheap rent of commercial facilities for beginner enterprises with small capital. It happens frequently that after a certain time enterprises move into more centrally located parts of Budapest, to more favourably situated places. Increase in the number of Arabic and Persian shops is noticeable in the inner districts of Pest, in some areas (e.g. alongside the Grand Boulevard) a series of such foreign enterprises appeared in the last years, although nothing like a coherent quarter seems to form.
At first it was in the central, busy parts of the 9th district adjacent to the 8 th district where more Arabic enterprises settled, in the past years these enterprises concentrated in some streets of the also neighbouring 7 th district. Enterprises operated by people from Arabic countries are scattered throughout Józsefváros, however, they can be found typically along busy main roads, in the parts of the district that are closer to the downtown.
Characteristic professions and enterprises
The most frequent and most popular activity among Arabic enterprises is the operation of a fast food restaurant. Managers of popular gyros buffets include Egyptian, Iraqi, Syrian entrepreneurs. This is, however, not a local characteristic of Józsefváros, such small restaurants can be found in other parts of the city as well (most of them are in Turkish possession, but more and more businesses open up which have Arabic or common management). Beside the fast food restaurants other commercial enterprises operated by Arabic owners have appeared, however fewer in number. In one of the busiest streets of the district there is a shoe shop operated by a Palestinian entrepreneur, there is a Libyan shop of cheap goods and a general store operated by Egyptian and Syrian owners.
There are shops to serve the needs of the Arabic community living in Budapest, such as halal (Islam conform) butcher and grocery (however the latter are visited by individuals and other catering units as well, seeking out for the ingredients of the eastern cuisine that has come in fashion in the past few years). Those wholesalers also satisfy special needs that are formed to supply the smaller Arabic and Persian enterprises.
The gyros buffet situated in the Baross street which is owned by Egyptians is considered typical with regard to its operation, business policy and number of employees therefore we will discuss it in more detail below.
93 An Egyptian man who used to do medicine in Budapest and who operated the business for years earlier moved back to his country later on. He sold the right of rent to an Egyptian who also used to learn here previously. He renovated the place and extended the menu. The owner’s Hungarian wife helps out in the shop, apart from her there is one Hungarian employee. The shop turns into a meeting point of Arabic men living in the neighbourhood from time to time, occasionally 10 15 Arabic men sit into the buffet to talk and spend some time there.
The clientele of another type of enterprise is comprised of the Arabic and Persian men living here. As an example, a barber shop is led by a man of Iraqi citizenship who moved to Iran as a refugee years ago with his family from the Saddam regime. On his father’s side he is Persian, on his mother’s side he is Kurd. He came to Hungary from Iran at the end of the 1990’s. He started to work in an illegally rented barber shop after arriving here. He has been renting a bigger shop for two years close to one of the busiest squares of the 8 th district together with a Syrian entrepreneur who runs an Internet café. He has only one Hungarian employee. He does not speak Hungarian well, earlier a Hungarian girlfriend of his used to help him with formal matters. He has worked 10 14 hours a day so far six days a week and this effort was enough to pay his rent and the overhead expenses of the shop. He has been renting a small shop somewhere else in the city where he sells gyros. In the first period only his current partner worked there, for some time now he has also been selling gyros in the morning, and he does haircuts in the afternoon. He has now two employees in the barber shop.
The characteristic of the Arabic enterprises with small capital is that they change their activity very quickly. If something does not work they try to change. The owner of the barber shop for example has tried to establish a separate shop for Arabic women living here (where they could welcome the Muslim women in a separated place). He tried to establish a massage salon as well, but these enterprises were not successful.
Language difficulties are present even in case of foreigners who used to study here. Practically all the listed enterprises give an opportunity to compensate for the difficulties deriving from language problems. The few words they memorise are enough for selling, calculating and serving the customers. Partners and employees of Hungarian origin help them do their formal matters.
The intensity of the enterprise would not require the physical presence of the owner in the shop, however it is still frequent that if he is there he makes the (generally Hungarian) employees work. There is a tiny but nice flash which is the practice that is experienced in many Arabic buffets: no matter that there are employees who work in the buffet, it is only the Arabic owner can cut the meet from the grill, nobody else can touch it.
Possibilities of migrant enterprise development
We cannot find a foreign small enterprise among the 300 members of the local branch of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Budapest operating as a part of the national network. Some corporate enterprises with foreign interest that are incorporated in Józsefváros have a chamber membership. However, apart from them, since the cancellation of compulsory membership which took place in 2000, the local Chamber has only Hungarian partners. The chamber, however, does not turn down foreign entrepreneurs, but it either does not make any effort to involve them.
94
It is considered general that both the Chinese and the Arabic entrepreneurs seek assistance within their own community for their formal matters. A relatively wide market based administrative network has formed in favour of serving the Chinese merchants (due to their greater number of employees and their capital force). Most of the companies offering such services are also of Chinese origin.
Enterprise promotion from EU sources
Theoretically all the enterprises that reside in Hungary and carry out their activities here can have access to the subsidies for enterprise promotion that are financed from EU sources. However, in practice it can be stated that due to the pre financing system only those can have resort to these subsidies that have enough capital force to advance a development on their own. In addition, although in the new programming period in 2007 2014 the small and middle size enterprises have significant priority; subsidies are supposed to be concentrated in the economically less developed regions of the country. Consequently foreign owned micro, small and middle size companies operating in the developed Central Hungarian region – typically short of financial resources – have not much chance to apply for such assistance. If we add administration which puts a way out burden even on domestic entrepreneurs who do not have language problems, we can securely declare that the economic development programs of the EU will not have a direct effect on the micro and small enterprises owned by foreigners.
Enterprise promotion from non-EU sources
Apart from EU sources there are specific organisations in Hungary aiming at enterprise development, in Budapest the Hungarian Foundation for Enterprise Promotion and the Budapest Enterprise Agency might be considered as the most relevant ones. Both are subsidised by the state, and aimed at the promotion of small and middle size enterprises in Hungary and in Budapest. One of their most important services is processing micro credit to enterprises, however, foreign citizens are not eligible for that.
In order to fill in this gap at least in part, in 2004 Mikrohitel (Micro credit) Plc. was founded, with the ambition to promote the foundation of enterprises of refugees here in Hungary. The joint stock company was established by two foundations that dealt with the promotion of enterprises and with the organisation of employment programs with the aim of providing an organisational frame for a new micro credit programme in Hungary. The Mikrohitel Plc. cannot be considered as a traditional commercial bank or a financial intermediary enterprise, it provides credit facilities to micro and small enterprises and NGOs that the commercial banks do not reach, in other words, they are considered as incapable for banking services.
Commercial banks do not generally offer small amount and short term loans, while the enterprises in foreign ownership with shortage of cash would require exactly these types of loan products. Parallel with the diverse product type the coverage demanded by the bank and the lack of banking routine, as well as the need for personal contact and administration make a difference for them.
However, the Mikrohitel Plc. did not manage to carry out its first initiative among the migrants; it could only grant one group loan (where the borrowers of the loan give bail for
95 each other in lack of cover) in its Pilot project in one single case to entrepreneurs from Cameroon. Each one of the six members of the group borrowed a 500.000 forint loan for a period of one year, however, they did not redeem their loan, and they fell out of the sight of the Mikrohitel Plc.
The primary target groups of the crediting activity of the Mikrohitel Plc. are in all cases determined by the organisations supporting the joint stock company. The UNHCR initially showed some interest towards the project, however, eventually the Mikrohitel Plc. did not obtain any financial subsidy aiming at migrant enterprise promotion either from this organisation or from any other resources, therefore, after an unsuccessful attempt the foreigners fell out of the target groups of their crediting activity.
The vast majority of the micro and small enterprises exclusively in foreign possession is not creditable at the commercial banks and currently there are no other credit facilities that focus on this target group so they cannot borrow a loan for their activity. As a result, crediting transaction between individuals and enterprises is relatively widespread within certain communities. During the interviews some entrepreneurs were mentioned both within the Arabic and the Chinese community who carry out this kind of activity on a market basis (but not legally).
Summary, conclusions, ending remarks
The number of foreigners working in Hungary with a work permit compared to the total number of the employed is low. The number of issued work permits has continuously been rising since the middle of the 1990’s, however, their proportion compared to the total number of employees is still only 1,5 per cent (3.9 million in the first quarter of 2007).
Besides the legally employed foreigners it is vital to mention the illegal workers as well. Their number is impossible to estimate, however, their effect on the local economy is perceptible. It is likely that the ones working here without a permit are more flexible to adapt to the changing demands of the labour market and they do seasonal jobs in greater number.
The foreign enterprises operating in the 8 th district usually work in the fields where they can carry out their activity with a relatively small investment.
Both the Arabic and the Chinese entrepreneurs are considerably introverted; they manage their affairs almost exclusively within their own community. They require external assistance only in the rarest cases, they only take the advice or support of the local government or other authorities if there is no other solution. Within the Chinese community, which is considered the most populous of all, the ones arriving from the same region or city stick together. The ones arriving from Arabic countries stick together with people of the same nationality.
Both the Arabic and Chinese entrepreneurs dealing with catering, generally with the operation of fast food buffets sell the dishes of their own nation, however, in other fields of retail trade considerable differences may be discovered between the two groups. More and more of the Chinese entrepreneurs run shops where they sell products that are not in association with their nationality but they open up a general store, a clothes shop or a tobacco shop that are in accordance with the local traditions. This tendency also assumes that besides the entrepreneurs with prominently high income (who exist in both communities) there are more entrepreneurs within the Chinese community with greater capital force.
96
Finally, the less visible and measurable indicators (that is generated by the Chinese market in the district) must be emphasized when analysing the effect of foreigners on the local economy. Such invisible economic links have evolved between the foreigners who make their living by the market and the locals in their everyday life ranging from renting apartments to babysitting, as a consequence of which a part of the local inhabitants obtains such a permanent income that they could not raise from any other resources.
97 Appendix
Appendix 1: The distribution of subscribed capital of the enterprises in Hungary by the categories of number of employees and main owners (Ministry of Economy and transport)
Number of employees Domestic private Domestic joint Foreign 0 1 persons 20,5 13,5 8,3 2 9 persons 30,7 15,4 3,9 10 49 persons 25,1 15,6 7,8 Total: micro, small and 76,3 44,5 20,0 middle-size 50 249 persons 20,0 18,7 19,0 Total: small and middle- 96,3 63,2 39,0 size More than 250 persons 3,7 36,9 61,1 Total 100 100 100
Appendix 2: Regional distribution of enterprises (CSO)
Region, county 1996 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Budapest 200 671 173 662 177 376 188 434 188 368 190 562
Enterprises in 98 101 109 110 112 operation per 1000 inhabitants
Pest county 68 411 66 659 70 314 77 745 80 395 82 309 Enterprises in 63 65 71 72 73 operation per 1000 inhabitants Central-Hungary 269 082 240 321 247 690 266 179 268 763 272 871
Enterprises in 85 88 94 95 96 operation per 1000 inhabitants
Total 698 045 625 147 645 881 693 788 700 855 708 307
Enterprises in 61 63 68 69 70 operation per 1000 inhabitants
98
Appendix 3: The regional distribution of enterprises in Hungary, 2005 (CSO)
Region Incorporated Enterprises in Individual Enterprises in enterprises operation enterprises operation per 100 inhabitants in the percentage of the country
Central Hungary 40,4 39,1 32,5 142,85
Central 10,2 10,3 11,45 92,43 Transdanubia
West Transdanubia 9,7 9,9 11,14 98,31
South Transdanubia 9,3 9,0 10,89 95,79
North Hungary 8,4 8,9 9,37 67,22
South Great Plain 10,9 11,2 11,97 71,42
North Great Plain 10,9 11,6 12,50 81,51
Country total 100 100 100 119
99 IV. The cultural aspect of integration
The relationship between social capital and the integration of migrants has received attention both in academic research and in policy making in recent years worldwide. One of them is the theory of Robert Putnam; according to his argument, associational life and civic participation supporting the creation of social links offer a solution for social problems related to inequality and exclusion. However, as opposed to earlier works that viewed all types of social capital equally beneficial, he distinguishes between two major forms: bonding and bridging social capital. The earlier refers to social relationships and associations established within homogeneous groups, while the latter describes social links built on common interests that transcend social differences (ethnic, racial, gender etc.). Putnam considers bridging social capital more beneficial than bonding social capital, as he assumes that the latter might contribute to the fragmentation of social cohesion. A complementary social capital proposed by Woolcock and Narayan called linking social capital refers to the vertical connections that link associations with formal institutions, and thus provide possible economic and other resources for their operation. However, bonding, bridging and linking social ties do not occur by themselves: they are strongly shaped by the experience in the origin source and also in the host societies, as well as by the different goals and the different resources that are available for the newcomers and the hosts. This is why the critiques of Putnam (by Bourdieu, Portes) regard social capital not as a cure but as a tool that operates in parallel with other resources in the reconstruction of social inequalities. 65
In the present paper we aim to investigate how the terrain of culture is used by immigrants to promote accommodation to the host environment, by also focusing on the activities, attitudes and intentions of the hosts in relevant positions that might initiate or ban these activities. As such, we were interested not only in the intentions present in these organisations in creating bridging ties with multiple ethnic groups and the host society, but also we aimed to assess their capacity in doing so, as well as the intention and capacity of building such ties on the part of the autochthonous institutions and population. Thus we have interviewed the leaders of immigrant organisations active in the field of culture on their pursued activities and goals; local NGOs offering help for immigrants and associations; the leaders of public cultural institutions; and official governmental representatives on local as well as national level. As the citizenship of organisers is not recorded in any statistics related to cultural events and civil organisations, unfortunately no statistical data was available on migrant related events or associations – thus we had to restrict our data sources to interviews on the national, regional and local level and to case studies carried out in Budapest. These case studies, focusing on the operation of migrant and related organisations have been mainly conducted in the 8th district; however, to get a wider picture on the regional and national level too, some major institutions and organisations have also been interviewed. Anyhow, according to our experience, these organisations rarely restrict their area of operation: district boundaries did not have any significance regarding the targeted population; in the majority of cases they aim to cover with their activities the entire country, in many cases their activities being restricted to Budapest only for practical reasons, that are geographical distances.
65 For an extensive analysis see P. Cheong, R. Edwards, H. Goulbourne, J. Solomos: Immigration, Social Cohesion And Social Capital: A Critical Review, in: Critical Social Policy, 27(1), 2007, forthcoming
100 The Decision-making Level
During the research period political stakeholders from different organisational background were questioned in connection with the cultural integration of immigrants. Altogether it can be declared that integration of the immigrants is not on the agenda of either of the decision makers concerned. Our under mentioned findings should be definitely understood in a given context, namely, that the proportion of migrants is rather low, around 6,5 per cent in the district. Although this is much higher than the proportion of immigrants in the whole country (1,5 per cent), it should be taken into consideration that the 8th district of Budapest is the one with the highest proportion of Roma inhabitants (around 30 per cent according to data of the Rév8, the urban renewal agency of the district). According to this situation, while our interviewees have always declared their commitment to the integration of the local minorities, they referred mostly to the Roma as “local minority”. It is also important to know that on the contrary to immigrants, Roma form a rather uniformly segregated group both in spatial and social sense, since in their case the ethnic background mostly goes hand in hand with a low economical status and increased unemployment compared to the non Roma. This means that though the issue of the cultural integration of the immigrants is not on the agenda of the decision makers, this is caused by the order of magnitude of the immigrant population on the one hand and on the focus on other minorities on the other, among several further possible reasons.
National-level decision making
According to cultural integration of immigrants the Ministry of Education and Culture should be in our scope of interest at the national level. Browsing the different grants provided by the Ministry one can not find any targeting the immigrants’ culture, though there are not even such clear budget lines financing cultural programs or festivals. Talking to different officers of the Ministry we could find out that they do not support such programs at all and they do not have any department dealing with the cultural integration of migrants.
At the Ministry we were suggested to contact the National Cultural Fund, which was set up as an institution independent of political regimes, deciding about the sponsorship of different cultural events and institutions. At the National Cultural Fund we were informed that their goal is to preserve the Hungarian cultural values, which can only be understood internationally in connection with their support of the ethnic Hungarians living in the neighbouring states, or the promotion of Hungarian culture abroad, but not as targeting the cultural integration of the immigrants living in Hungary. It is typical for the situation that the officers we have talked to have clearly stated that the institution has nothing against the support of the migrants’ culture; however the issue has not been discussed before.
Though neither of the above mentioned decision making institutions deals with the cultural integration of immigrants, one of the migrant organisations we have contacted could gain financial support for one of its programs from the Ministry. The Mahatma Gandhi Human Rights Organisation got in contact with the Ministry of Education and Culture through informal ties, so this year they are going to get support for their Africa festival during the summer of 2007. According to them they are supported from the Ministry’s so called representation budget. This is in line with our experience at the National Cultural Fund: the national level institutions concerned are in favour of supporting migrant connected events or organisations; however this does not appear in an official context.
101 Decision making in Budapest
We have also collected information from the local government of the city of Budapest. Here we were able to get information on those presumably66 migrant related NGOs supported by the mayor’s office in 2005 and 2006; however we did not have the opportunity to observe the entire list of supported organisations to see the order of the magnitude of the issue. According to this mainly organisations of the thirteen officially recognised ethnic minorities were supported 67 (namely the Bulgarians and the Romanians), secondly the ethnic Hungarians of Transylvania and Sub Carpathia and the Menedék Association for Migrants which activities will be described later; only one of these organisations is situated in the 8th district. This means that very few possibly migrant related organisations were supported by the local government of Budapest. As we do not have any information on the number of migrant organisations applying for the city’s support, it is impossible to follow to what extent they applied for the funds, and compared to this, to what extent they were supported by the capital.
According to Péter Kirschner, cultural advisor to the Mayor, the leadership of Budapest is proud of the city’s cultural openness and ethnic diversity and there is a will on their part to nourish this. Mr. Kirschner explained that it is on purpose that they do not keep the question of the integration of immigrants on the agenda, since – according to him – the city’s leadership believes that they help the most by not discussing this question on the decision making level, this way reserving the spontaneity of the process. He envisaged however that sooner or later the issue should be handled by the leadership of Budapest, as “whilst nowadays migrants are carrying a value for the city, first or last they will cause problems”. When questioned about the possible problems, Mr. Kirschner mentioned the religious conflicts of Western European cities.
Concerning cultural events related to the migrants of Budapest, Mr. Kirschner mentined the so called “Danube side marry making” (Dunaparti Vigasságok) preceding the 20 th of August national holiday. This is a free open air festival financed by the local government, taking three or four days where usually popular Hungarian bands perform and one of the days is dedicated to the ethnic minorities of the city – again those groups which are officially recognised. This means that the immigrants of Budapest are not in the spotlight; however it can be assumed that those immigrants coming from the countries of the officially recognised minorities should be affected by these events one way or another. Furthermore a presentation of different national cuisines also took place during these events between 1997 and 2003. In the last two years besides the programs related to the officially recognised ethnic minorities some performers have been invited from abroad, such as a Spanish flamenco group and an Argentinean tango band, however these neither seem to be directly related to the immigrants. According to Péter Kirschner the leadership of the city does not organise the festivities itself but delegates the task to a company having experience in organising such events. The selected company is only instructed to present most officially recognised ethnic minorities and to make the programme as “colourful” as possible.
66 The list was created by the head of the Office of Civil Connections of Budapest by the criteria of migrant or migrant related organisations. 67 The Hungarian legislation officially recognises 13 ethnic and national minority groups, members of which are Hungarian citizens who do not have migrant background. These groups are entitled to different rights, for example the right to set up minority local governments which goal is to preserve the culture and language of the given minority groups. The thirteen minority groups are the following: Roma, Germans, Slovaks, Croats, Rusyns, Bulgarians, Greeks, Armenians, Romanians, Ukrainians, Serbs, Slovenes, Poles.
102 The 8 th district
The local government of the 8th district of Budapest does not seem to have a coherent approach to foreigners living in the area. Reading the paper called “Józsefváros”, issued every second week by the local government, one can get an idea about the general views on local foreigners. Concerning the news section of the paper, foreign nationals are mainly referred to in contexts of illegal activities (especially the Chinese and Vietnamese inhabitants). The paper also has a section on cultural events, where some non Hungarian programs are mentioned, however these are the ones mainly organised by the minority local governments which are to represent those Hungarian citizens who belong to one of the thirteen officially recognised ethnic groups. However it is highly probable that these programs are visited by migrants, this possibility is never mentioned in the paper.
Concerning financial support to local organisations dealing with migrants, it is also obvious that the local government does not have any direct intentions. As the Cultural and Educational department of the local government provided us its list of organisations partaken of their support, we could closely observe which organisations were supported for what kind of activities. As the department deals with both education and culture it was possible to apply for financial support of both types of activities. Seemingly the educational line was more favourable for the deciding committee as the NGOs with such activities in their scope formed an overwhelming majority among the supported organisations.
PERIOD SUPPORT FOR NUMBER OF NUMBER OF % OF MIGRANT SUPPORTED SUPPORTED DISTRIBUTED ORGANISATION 68 ORGANISATIONS MIGRANT MONEY GIVEN ORGANISATIONS TO MIGRANT ORGANISATIONS 2004/1 HUF 0 41 0 0 2004/2 HUF 0 41 0 0 2005/1 HUF 60 000 33 1 3 2005/2 HUF 30 000 44 1 1,5 2006 HUF 40 000 29 1 2
3. Table: The distribution of the financial support provided by the local government of the 8th district In the years 2005 2006 one foreign national organisation received support from the local government 69 , namely the Slovak Language Evangelic Parish. 70 It is obvious however that this is not a migrant organisation by definition, as its activity is organised by the Slovaks of Hungary who are not immigrants. It is clear however that Slovak nationals are also welcome to the church. Maybe not by definition, but the Slovak Language Evangelic Parish seems to foster tolerance and multiethnic dialogue, as they have delivered a declaration together with their Slovakian counterpart right after certain hostile incidents against Hungarians in the Slovak Republic where they emphasize the importance of mutual reconciliation. At their
68 In this case we were provided the entire list of supported organisations, so we have selected the migrant and migrant related ones ourselves. Since the organisations’ main goals were described in given the list, we could make our selection based on the organisations’ names and activities. 69 Data was only provided concerning the supported organisations, which means that we do not have any information on the number of migrant or migrant related organisations which have been unsuccessful at the local government’s tenders between 2004 and 2006. 70 Szlovák Ajkú Evangélikus Egyházközség
103 services one can experience the traditional choral liturgy in Slovak language which is unique in Europe.
According to an officer at the Cultural and Educational Department of the District’s government concerning the decision making in case of the different NGOs applying for the financial support of the district, no concrete guidelines are set, so they mainly consider how much the given applicant’s plans fulfil the application criteria (for example drug prevention). The integration or cultural representation of local immigrants is not mentioned among these. Mr Miklós Molnár, former member of the Cultural and Educational Board recalled that the issue of the integration of local immigrants was never mentioned at their meetings, and he also verified our finding of the support of mainly education related programs and organisations, as mostly this issue was discussed at the board meetings. This means that not just the cultural integration of local immigrants, but the whole issue of culture is just partially covered by the related department of the local government.
Not only its paper and the list of supported organisations, but also our other interviewee, a current member of the Cultural and Educational Department of the local government confirmed that the cultural integration of the migrants is not on the agenda of the local government. Mr. Imre Novák emphasized that the “District” is not in such financial situation being able to support all sorts of activities they find positive, so education is the main priority of the Department. Concerning culture he mentioned that the mayor’s office does not organise cultural programs directly, but delegates this task to the Józsefváros Cultural Centre, where also the decisions concerning the programs are made by an independent committee (see the description of this institution later). It was also made clear that the whole issue of immigrant integration and the support of migrant organisations is not addressed to any of the officials at the moment, as the so called NGO rapporteur has been sent away some six months ago due to financial restraints and no one deals with these issues since than.
Summing up our findings related to the capacity and intention of the decision makers to integrate migrants by the means of culture, we might conclude that however at every stage of decision making, the issue was approached in a positive way, officially the question is neither discussed nor related action can be spotted. This can be most probably understood as the lack of interest rather than ignorance, which is surely related to the number of migrants present in the country as well as the particular composition of the local migrant population, as ethnic Hungarians do not appear as classically meant immigrants needed to be integrated. As we will see in the following chapters, cultural events and activities at very few occasions might be a terrain of creating linking capital between migrants and decision makers, and also, these links might play a role in creating such events; however, these actors usually have a passive role, and are usually employees of the Office for Immigration and Nationality, or the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement, not stakeholders from the field of culture.
Public cultural institutions
Public cultural institutions in Hungary are responsible for hosting the community activities targeted at self cultivation, knowledge acquirement, and artistic and other type of creation; as such they might play a central role in the promotion of migrants’ cultural activities. This role might be fulfilled in two ways: first, these institutions organise clubs, festivals, exhibitions, or concerts by inviting groups and associations (top down initiation), second, organisations, associations, or other non formal groups might hire the infrastructure of these institutions in
104 order to pursue their activities (bottom up initiation). From our perspective, public cultural institutions could have a central role in the establishment of bridging connections: their openness and visibility, and the fact that these are well known trusted institutions among the Hungarian population could support their role in the establishment of social connections between migrants and the host population.
During our investigation we have interviewed the leaders of such public cultural institutions in the 8th district, as well as the leaders of the Budapest Cultural Center, and the Cultural Center of the Capital.
Regarding the top down attempts initiated by public cultural institutes to involve migrants we have found two festivals organised recently. The Cultural Center of the Capital (CCC, Fıvárosi Mővelıdési Ház) organised in November 2006 the Migrant Children’s Day. The event was initiated by two interested associates of the CCC with an intention to offer a terrain where the inhabitants of the Bicske, Békéscsaba and Debrecen Refugee Centers and local Hungarians can get in contact with each other. The day consisted of cultural programs organised and presented by Hungarians, immigrants, and also by the inhabitants of the Refugee Centers. The event was patronised by the Municipality of Budapest, the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement, and numerous migrant organisations (Foundation for Africa, AfroAid Hungary) as well as migration oriented NGOs (Menedék, Multikultúra Association, Hungarian Baptist Aid). Due to the large advertising campaign in the major newspapers, on line cultural pages and the tv channels (Duna TV, M1) the 150 refugees and refugee applicants have been joined by around 200 Hungarian citizens interested in the programs.
The Multicultural Festival in Újbuda (Újbudai Multi Kulti) initiated by two enthusiastic employees of the institution aimed to present the artistic activities of ethnic and national minorities as well as migrants in all different fields: photo and fine arts exhibitions, documentaries, folk and world music concerts, workshops, literature evenings made up the programme. The festival was publicised on several internet pages, and on posters in the bus and tram stops in Budapest. However, only few people turned up: the only programme that finally presented migrants was an African jazz music band; the concert had an audience of a sole person.
Regarding bottom up events organised by migrant organizations and hosted by these centres we have found that by interviewing the leaders we can not obtain a complete picture: first, these organisations could not provide us an archive of the bottom up type activities pursued in their institutions in any field, second, these institutions often support cultural activities by hosting programs organised from outside and letting their infrastructure to them, without focusing on the association or group itself (e.g. the citizenship of the members or leaders of an association is never recorded). Thus, self organising migrant activities are only informally perceived by the employees of such institutions, and only in cases of visible migrants.
However, interviewing the leaders of numerous immigrant organisations we have found that despite the lack of records and knowledge, these institutions did host different programs: the Cultural Centre of Józsefváros lets its football terrain for the AfriqueInter Football Club; the Gallery of Józsefváros hosted a photo exhibition of the Sahara Foundation, and the Kossuth Club also hosted a photo exhibition, organised by the Africa Foundation. The palette of activities by these organisations will be analysed in details in the next chapter; here these examples are shown to illustrate to what extent the ‘migrant’ category as such might be missing from the official and cognitive repertoire of these institutions.
105
Other public cultural institutions possibly providing a terrain for cultural integration of migrants could be libraries. An interesting example is the Szabó Ervin Library of Budapest on Guttenberg Square in the 8 th district. In 2001 the Chinese Embassy initiated a programme of establishing a Chinese Reading Room, by donating 60 70 Chinese books and offering subscriptions for newspapers and journals from China for the public library. After one year, the library was closed, and the Chinese shelves were moved to the another library, the Pataky Cultural Centre in Kıbánya (the district that hosts a substantial Chinese population). In 2004 a large photo exhibition was also organised on this new spot by the Chinese Embassy, that was largely publicised on posters and also in the major Hungarian newspapers, and became a prestigious event welcoming also Chinese and Hungarian visitors in great numbers. However, in the recent years the book donations of the Embassy have ceased, it seems that a new Chinese cultural centre will be opened in the 15th District, nearby a large shopping centre (Asia Center) mainly operated by Chinese traders. The Chinese books that are still in the library are rarely read: the majority of the 15 20 Chinese persons turning up weekly are children reading Hungarian books – for themselves or on rare occasions translating for their parents.
Concluding on the role of public cultural institutions in creating social ties via culture, we have the impression that there are sporadic attempts on the part of a few enthusiastic persons and interested organisations to promote connections between migrants and the host society. In case of having the capacity and information to involve professional organisations, official patrons and large media coverage, these might attract a wide audience; however, their capacity might be limited in case if expert knowledge related to migration, or in case if financial resources to publicise the events are not available. Regarding the bottom up organised activities, the role of these centres is passive, restricted to hosting the associations and clubs.
Intermediate Organisations
Organisations, NGOs founded and operated by Hungarian persons for supporting refugees or migrants in general are also important actors in creating social ties between migrants and members of the host society. Being specialised in migration issues, they are more aware of the situation and needs of different migrant groups than general governmental organisations or public institutions; at the same time by having a host society background, they have a better knowledge on the Hungarian social environment, on the possibilities and on resources these migrants might turn to whilst adapting to the host society. In our present study we examined the Menedék Association for Migrants, the Hungarian Language School, the Multicultural Association and the Multicultural Association of Women in Józsefváros.
Menedék means refuge in Hungarian and Menedék Association is dealing with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers since 1995. It operates as a non profit organisation independent from governmental institutions. The association’s main objectives are to represent international migrants (asylum seekers, refugees, temporarily protected persons, foreign employees, immigrants, and other foreigners in Hungary) towards the majority society; to promote the social and cultural integration of those refugees and migrants who are planning to stay in Hungary by means of targeted programmes and projects, and to represent the interests and rights of migrants towards the political, administrative, governmental and municipal bodies and in the media. This means that among other activities, this organisation mediates between the decision makers and the migrants staying in Hungary. Talking to Mr. Attila
106 Mészáros, member of the board of Menedék, he as well confirmed our findings of the lack of the issue of cultural integration of migrants being on the political agenda on any of the decision making levels. According to his experiences the government has already realised the importance of dealing with immigrants, however the issue is not discussed in a cultural context, more handled as an economical or juridical question.
2. Graph: Campaign poster of of Menedék Text on picture: “Today blue eyed people are not allowed!” Under picture: „Yesterday a DJ was not allowed to enter his own performance because of his skin color. What about tomorrow? That’s also up to you.”
Concerning the association itself, they have certain programmes fostering tolerance towards foreigners in the host society. Probably the most well known of these is their ongoing campaign, raising the issue of acceptance in different ways through several types of media. In their campaigns they mainly target those young persons who might have negative attitudes towards foreigners; however these attitudes are not consistent yet. In its last two campaigns the association has tried to draw attention on the cruelty of discrimination by putting some true stories of refugees in a broader context, making the audience have to understand how this should feel; and recently they built a campaign where they emphasized the positive nature of multiculturalism by demonstrating how much one can learn from different cultures. Menedék furthermore organises events making the presence of refugees visible. According to Mr. Mészáros, however they inform the media about these, normally not more than few activists working in this field visit their festivals. He was not sure of the reason why not a broader audience is interested in this issue.
The Hungarian Language School was founded in 1991 and one of its main objectives is the cultural integration of foreigners. It operates according to a special model, namely, having refugees together with other non Hungarians at the courses. According to Ms. Ilona Koháry, director of the organisation, this way the refugees see positive examples, and obtain broader perspectives. Besides the courses, the school organises different events, where the pupils can become more familiar with the Hungarian culture. For example they sometimes have special lessons at different typical scenes of Hungarian life, such as the market hall or one of the railway stations. The Hungarian Language School also organises events for a broader audience, where the students’ families and friends are also welcome together with the representatives of the media and the different partners supporting the school. Furthermore the students can participate in several joint activities, such as excursions to different parts of the country or visits to current exhibitions and famous museums.
The language school does not only focus on the introduction of the Hungarian culture to its international students, but also puts an emphasis on informing the host society about its immigrants. In 1996 they have published a book called “Do You Speak Magyarul?”, where they presented the foreigners’ views of about the Hungarians. The book was a great success and was made into university curriculum.
According to its director, however great their model is and however well it functions, none of the political decision makers ask for the school’s advice or ideas concerning different
107 integration programs, though they have great experience in this field. Ms. Ilona Koháry found it problematic furthermore that the issue of refugees is still viewed as a social question, which counters successful integration.
The Multicultural Association of Women in Józsefváros was created in 2000 by two enthusiastic persons, one of them Vera Hárs, former associate of the International Organisation of Migration in Budapest. They intended to create a field where different ethnic groups and migrants have the opportunity to get in contact with each other and with local Hungarian inhabitants; they also aimed to operate the association as the self help organisation for women seeking employment. Besides a drawing competition with a special focus on migrant children, in the first years of operation this latter dominated the focus of activities. After the death of one of the leaders, the association suspended its operation, and aims to restart its activities in the near future.
According to our findings, organisations specialised in supporting migrants have a central role in creating bonding ties, bridging connections between migrants and hosts and linking ties between migrants and formal institutions on the field of culture. First, these professional organisations do have financial resources as well as knowledge and competence to organise wide campaigns in order to mobilise local people who would be otherwise less sensitive towards migrants and related issues. Second, these organisations have large informal networks in the official governmental organisations, and thus they might be the most efficient actors that can – though still at a very low level turn the attention towards migration related issues of stakeholders in decision making processes. Third, by their competence in migration related problems they also have the capacity to form and enhance cohesion between migrants themselves via cultural events. (E.g. the language courses and related cultural activities of the HLS is an interesting example of creating bridging ties within migrants, as these do transcend socio economic boundaries without excessively transcending boundaries between migrants and the local population.) Therefore, these organisations have a central role in creating bridging and linking capital between migrants, hosts and formal institutional actors.
Cultural activism – Migrant Organisations
The Hungarian immigrant organisations
As stated earlier, ethnic Hungarian migration covers the greatest proportion of immigration to Hungary. This type of migration flow concerns people, who on the basis of common language, common culture and common ancestry are considered by themselves and by others as belonging to the same ethnicity/nationality 71 as the members of the host society. Based on this assumption, as well as on the political discourses on the importance of maintaining the Hungarian population on their native lands in neighbouring countries, there is no formal attempt to promote the accommodation of ethnic Hungarian migrants to their new environment. As such, although diaspora politics related to ethnic Hungarians living in the neighbouring countries form a central core of political discourses in Hungary, these discourses leave untouched the integration of those Hungarians who have already moved to the ‘mother country’. Thus the great number of Hungarian immigrants has had to face the difficulties of their moving without considerable formal support on the part of the host society.
71 For further literature on this type of migration see Rogers Brubaker (1998): Migrations of Ethnic Unmixing in the "New Europe" in: International Migration Review, Vol. XXXII, No. 4, pp. 1047 1065.
108
On the other hand, the ambiguous political discourses as well as the economic crises, and the increasing social insecurity following the transitions has lead to the growth of xenophobia in Hungary, which also had an impact on the attitudes of the host population towards the immigrants. However, not only refusal characterises the Hungarian social environment: in the last 17 years the national idea became one of the major reference points on the Hungarian political terrain; on this terrain Hungarians across the borders became political tokens in the hands of the major parties. The romanticising national political discourses around Hungarians across the borders, the sense of refusal together with the perception of otherness implied the redefinition and reinforcement of a new unified Transylvanian Hungarian identity (or local home identities) among part of the Hungarian migrants.
Thus the ethnic Hungarian organisations have to fulfil multiple goals: first, they have to initiate and support the structural integration of the newcomers: assist the migrants in the alien policing procedures (which, until recent times was complicated also for those speaking the local language), and assist the migrants in finding accommodation and living. Also these associations aim to make up for the social networks left behind. Third, these places aim to assure an environment where by the means of the common cultural programs and community activities, the Transylvanian or local home identities can be preserved.
On the other hand, these diaspora identities imply also diaspora activism: migrants preserve ties with the origin society, and by various means and various extent attempt to take part in and contribute to their development.
Regarding the 8th district, we have found two major ethnic Hungarian organisations: the Domokos Foundation for the Hungarians across the borders focuses its activities on the ethnic Hungarian immigrants; the other organisation, the Bocskai Alliance maintained by Transylvanian immigrants centres its activities around the support of culture of the Hungarian minority of Transylvania.
Operating together with a legal office providing legal assistance, the Domokos Foundation is an NGO responsible for the organisation of cultural events for the immigrants. These events comprise of a yearly organised welcome evening for the newly arrived clients with the aim of contacting each other and making social relationships in the new environment, as well as contacting different professionals (doctors, a priest, electrician, smith, etc) they might turn to with everyday problems. Each year the foundation organises meetings (5 10 per year) for Hungarian immigrants of certain professions: entrepreneurs, doctors, accountants, wine producers etc. The meetings are held in restaurants, where Transylvanian food is prepared by Transylvanian cooks.
From this year, the foundation also organises cultural festivals: a Transylvanian Day was held in the House of the Hungarian Culture in Budapest, offering a programme of Transylvanian migrant artists together with Hungarian artistic groups on the subject of the Hungarian mythologic past and the settlement of Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin. The participants were invited via the network of the Foundation.
Also in August a three day festival “Transylvania is my Homeland” will be held in Verıce with a wide programme presenting Transylvanian actors, Transylvania related performances, and programs related to the ancient historical and mythical Hungarian past. As opposed to the other events organised by the Foundation, where only mainly ethnic Hungarian immigrants
109 and their families were invited, this festival will be a highly publicised event via the national media, open for anyone interested in Transylvanian and ancient Hungarian culture.
The foundation communicates with its clientele of 5.000 persons through its free monthly on line newspaper “Hungaria News” (Hungária Hírlevél) which, besides the current events, contains information useful for the immigrants in various fields (alien policing legislation, Romanian legislation, alien policing institutions and bodies, entrepreneurial advising).
Also in order to promote the intra Transylvanian communication, the Foundation publishes yearly the Namelist of Migrant Transylvanians containing the contact details of those Transylvanians who approve to be included in the booklet, as well as the list of Translyvanian Associations operating in Hungary. Regarding its activities, the foundation often cooperates with other ethnic Hungarian migrant organisations, such as the Transylvanian Congregation, the Association of Transylvanian Hungarians, the Secler Club of Budapest (Budapesti Székely Kör) or the Bocskai Alliance.
As it could be seen from the targeted audience of the cultural events, as well as from the network structure, the foundation is rather a diaspora organisation aiming to maintain a relatively closed Transylvanian social environment without establishing ties with the autochthonous population.
The Bocskai Alliance was founded in 1991 as an organisation to promote the Transylvanian Hungarian political interest representation in Hungary and Romania, by the means of influencing political decisions in these countries, and integrating and harmonising the activities of the Hungarian political actors in Hungary and in Transylvania, Western European Transylvanian Hungarian diaspora organisations, and also Hungarian civic organisations interested in Transylvania.
Apart from its political activism, through its members in the advisory boards of different cultural foundations, the alliance also lobbies for the support of cultural institutions of the Hungarian minority in Romania (schools, orphanages, churches, museums). Furthermore, the organisation promotes Transylvanian artists in Hungary, by publishing books of Transylvanian authors, and two or three times a year organising performances of Transylvanian artists for the audience in Hungary that comprises of both Transylvanian migrants and the autochthonous population.
The alliance takes part in the organisation of some of the main festivals of ethnic Hungarian migrants, e.g. the Secler Reunion organised yearly by the Secler Club in Budakeszi. Regarding its associational network the organisation is part of the World Alliance of Hungarians, and apart its connections with cultural and political bodies in Hungary and Romania, it maintains ties with the Secler Club, the Rákóczi Alliance, the Association of Transylvanian Hungarians and the Transylvanian Alliance. The major events are publicised in Transylvanian Hungarian newspapers and in some of the major newspapers (Magyar Nemzet, Magyar Hírlap, Demokrata).
Although half of the membership is made up of Transylvanian migrants living in Hungary, the alliance is more a transnational organisation recruiting its members also from Hungarians of Hungary being interested in and aiming to support Transylvania, as well as from Hungarians living in Transylvania, or from Transylvanian Hungarians having migrated to Western
110 European countries. Also the organised cultural events are not particularly targeted towards immigrants, rather open for everyone interested in Transylvanian art and culture.
As we could see, the Domokos Foundation is more a diaspora type of organisation, which, although would have the resources and potential to attract locals, voluntarily directs its cultural activities almost exclusively towards Hungarian immigrants from neighbouring countries (mainly Transylvanians), and aims to create and enlarge a homogeneous ethnic network in Hungary. These bonding ties, however, through the high level of structural integration of these immigrants in Hungary offers a means for the organisation of an effective interest representation on different institutional levels. As opposed to them, the Bocskai Foundation has the declared aim to gather everyone interested in the development of Transylvanian regions: local Hungarians, Hungarian immigrants and Hungarian emigrants in Western Europe; as such being able to mobilise a large basis of donors and supporters in its transnational cultural and political activities.
Chinese and Vietnamese associations
As the great majority of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants live of trade and catering services whilst not speaking Hungarian well enough to understand and negotiate with their work environment in the host society, one part of their organisations’ activities is related to their economic interest representation. The Organisation for Culture and Interest Representation of Vietnamese living in Hungary is one of these organisations, which is also responsible for the major cultural events of the Hungarian Vietnamese community. The most important event is the Moon New Year, a large festival organised yearly in February together with other organisations (i.e. the Vietnamese Women’s Association, the Association of Vietnamese Traders and Entrepreneurs, the Vietnamese Student’s Association, and the Vietnamese Hungarian Friendship Society.) Its programme consists of a formal part involving speeches by the Vietnamese ambassador in Hungary, and the leaders of the association, that is followed by an artistic musical and dance show, where occasionally Hungarian folk groups are also invited. The event is publicised via the Vietnamese daily distributed on the markets, as well as in the loudspeakers of the markets and in the Asia Center and Dragon Center malls of Budapest. Hungarians also form a minor part of the audience: they are invited through the Vietnamese Hungarian Friendship Society recruited mainly from Hungarian persons having worked in Vietnam and aiming to preserve ties with the Vietnamese culture in Hungary. A different programme organised by the society is the Birthday of the Vietnamese State on 2 September: sports tournaments involving only Vietnamese people make up the core of the programme. The Vietnamese Days in Szarvas had been organised yearly until the last few years; the organisation aims to restart and follow this tradition of promoting Vietnamese culture in Hungary in order to weaken the Hungarian stereotypes of Vietnam as a poor post war country. The city of Szarvas was selected for these events, economic cooperation between two factories in Szarvas and the city of Hoa Lu in Vietnam made the local inhabitants more receptive towards and interested in Vietnamese immigrants. The association together with the women’s association also organises excursions for 60 people one or two times a year; the goal of visiting the historical towns of Hungary are to get to know more about the Hungarian history and the country.
The organisation publishes the only Vietnamese daily in Hungary, consisting of news of Vietnam, news of Hungary, literature, and events concerning the Vietnamese community in Hungary.
111 Although mainly establishing bonding ties, the association has the declared intention to build bridging relations with the host population; these yet tentative attempts are clearly shaped by the usually rejecting attitude of the Hungarians. At the same time, the association also aims to promote acceptance and understanding of Hungarian culture among its members: the yearly excursions to historical towns or the news about Hungary in the Vietnamese newspaper show this attempt.
In the 8th district we have found a special symbiosis of a Chinese and a local Hungarian congregation. These two churches remaining faithful to their pursued religious values, became an important spot for the establishment of bridging ties between Chinese, Hungarians, and Hungarian and African immigrants:
The Reformed Church of Külsı Józsefváros defines itself as pursuing a mission work by aiming to gather and help the socially and economically disadvantaged inhabitants of the district. The church accommodates one of the four Chinese Christian congregations in Budapest since its establishment in 1993. In the beginning for a few years the Chinese joined the Hungarian services with a translator; later a priest educated in Canada has taken over the leadership of the Chinese Christians. Since then the services are organised separately, in the same space but in different times. The members of the two congregations meet at the main cultural events of the two churches: The orchestra formed by a few members of the Hungarian Congregation gives a concert each year (advertised through the bulletin board of the church on the front of the building), to which the Chinese Congregation is also invited; many of their members join the event. Also, the service held at Advent with mainly musical sections is highly frequented by them. Another event they organise is the yearly ship tour to Visegrád or Szentendre – around 20 30 Chinese participate on these excursions.
The Chinese Congregation is also active in organising open cultural occasions: their yearly concert organised in August and the dancing performance that is part of the main Christmas service targets mainly the Chinese of Budapest, but also the Hungarian Congregation is invited and represents itself mainly through the leaders on these occasions. As the events are advertised in Chinese newspapers and by distributing leaflets on the markets in Chinese, it is not surprising that the majority of the 200 guests are Chinese (half of them non Christian, from outside the Congregation).
In the everyday life the two congregations are dominantly separated: besides these cultural events, the ties are maintained basically with symbolic gifts interchanged between the leaders of the two churches. (The Chinese offering clothes to be distributed by the Hungarian church among the poor in the district, or flowers are given to the women on Mothers’ Day; Hungarians give fruits as Christmas gift for the Chinese.)
Apart from the Hungarian Reformed Church, the Chinese congregation has a loose contact only with one of the four other Chinese Christian Churches in Hungary. The associational network of the Hungarian church is much wider: ties with religious organisations spread over the borders of Hungary to Reformed churches of the Hungarian minorities in Romania and Ukraine. The Church also has connections with the Transylvanian Congregation in Budapest that gathers Hungarian immigrants arrived from the neighbouring countries from the late 80s: they advertise its religious and cultural programs for their Transylvanian members.
The Hungarian congregation has about 25 30 ethnic Hungarian immigrants from Transylvania, some of them hold post as presbyters. For the Transylvanian members the
112 congregation organises theatre visits a few times a year, depending on the current performances (topics related to the Hungarian history are preferred over the other types of plays.) The Hungarian congregation also has a youth club that is frequented by children of African origin; they have found their way to the congregation through the religious classes hold in elementary schools in the district by the leader of the church.
African organisations
Associations maintained by immigrants of African origin have three major target groups: first, immigrants from Africa needing legal and social support, second, the Hungarian persons often ignorant about Africa and exercising discrimination against Africans, third, the population of the countries of origin of the migrants.
In our investigation we have found numerous organisations: the Martin Luther King Organisation, the AfriqueInter Football Club, or the Mahatma Gandhi Organisation focuses its activities mainly on the Africans living in Hungary and also on the discrimination on the part of the autochthonous population; the Sahara Foundation, and the Foundation for Africa are mainly active in helping the regions and countries of origin of the migrants.
The Martin Luther King Organisation was founded in 1991 by students from Africa and their Hungarian supporters to defend foreign students against racist attacks and against bureaucratic or xenophobe reactions of formal organisations (e.g. the police). Later on the organisation extended its activities to the spreading of multicultural values via education and training in high schools as well as lobbying for the human rights of foreigners.
The Afrique Inter Football Club founded in 2005 aims to provide a terrain of social integration in Budapest via sports and culture. The team with 15 players and 40 50 people altogether around the club plays in the Hungarian league, 4 th division. The team intends to fight against racism and social inequalities by being open to anyone interested regardless of social background: it also hosts a Romanian and a Serbian player who were not able to found another team, and it hosts a Roma player, who experienced discrimination in his previous clubs. The team also has a cultural subdivision: a dance group entertaining the audience before and after the matches, and also performing in different Budapest clubs. Being quite successful, the football club has a large supporter group: at well advertised week end matches usually more than 2000 supporters, a great proportion of them Hungarians, come along. Information on matches is distributed through the home page, via the Hungarian Football Federation, and through emails and sms es sent to the people they are in contact with.
Besides the Hungarian football federations, Afrique Inter is in contact with the on line newspaper The African Sunshine (that publishes articles on events related to the team), and with the African Hungarian Union that is an association founded mainly by Hungarians and also by African immigrants to support the development of African countries.
The Mahatma Gandhi Association was founded in 1992 for the support of refugees and refugee applicants in alien policing issues by legal representation and counselling. Its activities were later extended towards cultural activism fighting racism and discrimination. Similarly to Afrique Inter Football Club, this organisation founded the football team called African Stars in 1994, whose players are of African origin, mainly refugees and African students studying in Hungary. As racism is a severe problem in Hungarian football arenas, Mr. Gibril Deen decided to join the international movement called “Football Against Racism”
113 and the team is regularly participating in the Anti racist World cup since 2004. The organisation is promoting this project through a flyer campaign, namely by giving information about the idea of anti racism to the audience of the football matches of the team. Recently the team started to play against those Hungarian clubs where racist behaviour of the supporters became serious and they joined these teams in the campaign “Show Red Card to Racism”.
Further regular projects of the organisation since 1994 are the Africa Festival in the summer and African Silvestre Eve during wintertime. These programmes are open to a great audience and present different spheres of African culture, such as traditional African hair braiding, lectures on the everyday life in Africa and dance and music performances of African artists along with related exhibitions. The festivals take place yearly in different locations. According to Mr. Gibril Deen, leader of the organisation, these programmes are highly popular, approximately 4.000 people are visiting them from both Hungarian and non Hungarian background. The aim of these festivals is to introduce the diversity of African culture to Hungarians which should foster tolerance towards the Africans in the Hungarian society.
The Sahara Foundation is a cultural organisation, aiming to distribute knowledge on the Sahara region in Hungary, and vice versa on Hungary in the Sahara Region by supporting cultural and scientific expeditions, and the publication of their results in the Hungarian and African media. Special attention is paid for issues related to the development and the environmental protection in the Sahara Region, and issues related to tolerance and human rights. Regarding their cultural activities in Hungary, the foundation organises altogether around 30 exhibitions, open lectures and concerts yearly. Usually 100 300 persons attend these events, almost exclusively Hungarians. These events are publicised in the national Hungarian as well as the local media: around 30 articles related to the foundation are published yearly.
The foundation has contacts with around 200 civil organisations, including organisations related to immigration (e.g. Menedék Association, Martin Luther King Association)
Except for its targeted region, the Foundation for Africa has similar goals as the Sahara Foundation: first, supporting the development of Congo (e.g. building schools and orphanages), second, publicising this work in Hungary, third, distributing knowledge on Congo in Hungary are the main fields of activities. Exhibitions, film shows, open lectures, festivals (transit Festival, the Day of Volunteering, Planet Festival) are organised altogether 2 3 times a month by the foundation itself, or in cooperation with other organisations. Schools and cultural centres often host these events. The latest programme was a charity concert organised in cooperation with Foster for Children Foundation at the Hungarian Music Academy for orphanages in Congo and in Transylvania. Their programs are publicised via e mails and a monthly newsletter sent for the donors, and also in the national newspapers (Népszabadság, Magyar Nemzet, Pesti Est). Reports and articles on the programs also appear in these organs, as well as in the channels TV2 and RTL Klub. The foundation being in cooperation with other organisations aiming to support African countries has just recently initiated the establishment of an umbrella organisation (The Africa Platform Alliance) for more efficient interest representation on the Hungarian civil scene. The foundation also has contacts with the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs; as experts of African issues, they represented Hungary on the European Development Day organised in Brussels by the EU in November 2006.
114 The organisations mentioned above, directing their activities towards African immigrants do declare the aim of integrating migrants into the host society, including creating bridging connections with the local associations and local population. For them, cultural and sports events have multiple tasks: first, they provide a terrain where socio economic disadvantages can be temporarily overcome; second, these occasions are considered as opportunities of social and cultural integration of immigrants; third, these events offer a possible tool for fighting against rejection and prejudice in the host society. As opposed to this, cultural events organised by associations and foundations pursuing development in Africa have different aims: creating bridging as well as bonding ties with organisations and persons possibly contributing to the chosen goal, and popularising its activities and the targeted region among the autochthonous population.
Immigration vs. minorities
Since the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities was passed in 1993, recognised ethnic and national minorities that have been living on the Hungarian territory for at least a century (Roma, German, Slovak, Rusyn, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovenian, Greek and Armenian) have the right to establish their own minority self governments, on local and national level. These are elected bodies representing the interests of all persons belonging to that minority on that settlement or in the country; their major scope being to assure cultural autonomy for the respective group. Their major duties are founding and maintaining institutions especially in education, media, and other culture related fields, and they have veto rights in national and local governmental decrees affecting the minority group in cultural aspects. In cases when more than 50 per cent of the members of the local government belong to a certain minority group, the local government can declare itself a minority local government, which assures territorial autonomy; these being however exceptional cases. The minority local governmental system offers the possibility of the establishment of an ethnic institutional environment related to culture for the respective minorities.
As it could be seen in the chapter on demographic issues, a part of the immigrants (e.g. Romanians, Germans 72 ) do belong to ethnic groups that are recognised minorities of Hungary. As such, hypothetically, the already existing institutional environment might be an important element in the cultural integration of these migrants in Hungary, and might be an important source of social and economic capital that could be relied on while accommodating to the host environment.
The investigation of the relationship between the minorities and the co ethnic immigrants could be the subject of a study in itself, in our present paper we have to restrict our scope to an illustrative example of a case study on a Romanian association.
The Romanian Association of Budapest (RAB) was founded in 1990 as the successor of the Romanian Club of Budapest existing since 1980. The club and later the association aimed to support the preservation of the Romanian culture in Hungary, and to strengthen the mutual understanding and knowledge between the Romanians and Hungarians in Hungary. Organising numerous cultural events (exhibitions, concerts, folk concerts, folk dance clubs,
72 Although immigration statistics hold records according to citizenship, there exist some estimates that around 10 per cent of immigrants from the neighbouring countries of Slovakia, Romania, Serbia and Croatia are not ethnic Hungarians.
115 Romanian balls) and the organisation of a Romanian language course constitute the main fields of activities. One of the biggest events organised by the association was a concert in 2002 from the works of the Romanian composer George Enescu, and the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (who being close friends became the symbols of the friendship between the two nations); the concert with an audience of diplomats was hosted by the local government of the 8th District of Budapest, and received a large media attention.
The organisation pools Romanians of Hungary, as well as Romanian and ethnic Hungarian immigrants from Romania. Between 1989 and 1992 the association worked also as a legal and social support organisation for the newly arrived immigrants, helping them with the alien policing affairs and the settlement in Hungary. Later the newly arrived Romanians (as well as Hungarians) have successfully integrated into the association, and being nominated by the RAB, they became representatives of the Romanian minority governments in numerous districts of Budapest. Although the leaders of the RAB initiate cooperation with the Association of Orthodox Women in Budapest and the Romanian Cultural Association of Budapest, these organisations have refused to respond to these attempts.
The examined Romanian association is a terrain of creating bridging, bonding and linking ties between immigrants and hosts: bonding in the sense that Romanian immigrants often not speaking Hungarian were surrounded by a less foreign cultural environment; bridging in the sense that ties were established between the autochthonous persons and migrants; and finally, linking in the sense that associations having strong connections with the minority local governments have been assured certain sources of public funding.
Summary, conclusions, ending remarks
In the present paper we aimed to investigate the capacity and attempt of migration related actors to create bonding, bridging and linking social ties within migrants and between migrants and hosts via the field of culture. We have conducted interviews with governmental actors on national and local levels, with leaders of public cultural institutions and with NGOs professionalised in supporting migrants; moreover we have attempted to contact self help organisations founded and operated by migrants. According to this fragmented picture (as the relevant actors were covered only partially in all of the levels) we could identify some mechanisms operated by these actors that, depending on their resources, attitudes and interests, promote the integration of migrants into different environments and networks.
Regarding to the capacity and intention of the decision makers to support migrants’ cultural activities, we might conclude that though the issue was approached in a positive way in all levels, the question is absent both on the discursive level and regarding visible related action. This most probably follows from the lack of interest rather than ignorance, related to the low number of immigrants as well as the particular composition of the local migrant population. (Ethnic Hungarians, the majority of migrants in Hungary are assumed not be “problematic” regarding integration issues.)
Concerning public cultural institutions, there exist sporadic attempts on the part of a few enthusiastic persons and interested organisations to promote bridging connections between migrants and the host society, whose success might depend on the financial resources and information available to involve professional organisations, official patrons and large media coverage. Regarding the bottom up organised activities, the role of these centres is restricted
116 to hosting the associations and clubs, as such leaving the creation of connections to the organisations’ intentions and capacities.
Organisations specialised in supporting migrants have a central role in creating bonding ties, bridging connections between migrants and hosts and linking ties between migrants and formal institutions on the field of culture: they have financial resources as well as knowledge and competence to organise wide public campaigns and to attract large audience, by extensive informal networks in the official governmental organisations they have the capacity to mobilise these actors, and by their competence in migration related problems these organisations have a potential of increasing social cohesion among migrants themselves.
Concerning migrant organisations, we have found a large palette of strategies regarding the creation of social capital via culture. These strategies largely depend on the necessities, resources, pursued goals and identity patterns of these migrants. Organisations focusing mainly on the support of origin societies might aim to maximise their support and organise events that might attract the possible greatest audience with a major emphasis on those actors playing a role in the distribution of funds and resources; thus create bridging and linking connections among actors from heterogeneous backgrounds (e.g. the Sahara Foundation or the Bocskai Alliance). Organisations that aim to protect certain immigrant groups from the rejection and discrimination on the part of the host society might also be active in attracting the largest possible audience, though compared to the earlier, these are activities related more to the mainstream than high culture (e.g. the football clubs, or organising festivals); or these are activities tied to education of children and youths. Third, organisations that are centred around migrants of better socio economic background (ethnic Hungarians, or the Asian immigrants) might maintain diasporic homogenous organisations (the Domokos Foundation, or the Organisation for Culture and Interest Representation of Vietnamese living in Hungary) and target their cultural activities and programs towards co ethnics.
117