Nitra Self-GoverningNitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

Region PAGE 1 OPENCities Local Action Plan

II CT URBA Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

PAGE 2 PAGE 3 Contents 1 Foreword 4 Situation regarding migration at the 2 Nitra Self-governing Region level 5 3 Migration issues at the Nitra Self-governing Region level 7 4 Problem/solution table, problem/solution tree 10 5 Stakeholders 16 6 Activity plan 18 Nitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

PAGE 4 PAGE 5 1 Foreword 2 Situation regarding migration at the Nitra Self-governing Region level

Slovakia is part of a wider region in Nitra Region can be considered an Central Europe known as the V4 Group. area attractive to people from outside Several characteristics that apply to is the largest . It is expected that the number Central Europe also apply to the Nitra agricultural producer of persons in the region of foreign origin Self-governing Region. The population in Slovakia and the will rise, as shown in Graph No. 1, due is largely concentrated in industrial areas second most important to new job opportunities in the industrial and towns, where more than half live. parks that are gradually being built on producer of energy and the edges of larger conurbations in the provider of trading and region. Number of inhabitants 705.661 (2009) business services. Some companies located in the Chart 1 Number of permanently settled Unemployment rate 13 % (2009) persons of foreign origin (PFO) in NSR in region rank among the 2004-09 largest companies within Immigrants as a percentage of the local population 0,8 % (2009) Slovakia by sales revenue. Of the total number of Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 The Nitra Self-governing Region (NSR) Several Pan-European multimodal industrial companies lies in the south-western part of Slovakia, corridors cross the region, such operating in the PFO 1881 2328 2822 3654 4585 5720 covering an area of almost 13 per cent of as Corridor IV: Berlin/Nuremberg - the entire country. In the south it borders - Kúty - - Budapest region, 312 have on Hungary, in the east, north and west it - Constanta/Thessaloniki/Istanbul foreign interest. borders on other higher territorial units. (transport route), and Corridor VII, the The majority of persons of foreign origin, This year, of the 494 registered EU Nitra Region is the largest agricultural River, with public ports at citizens of EEA countries, residing within citizens working in Nitra Region, 307 of producer in Slovakia and the second Komárno and Štúrovo. This waterway the NSR come from Hungary, the Czech them were employed in jobs they were most important producer of energy of European importance has greatly Republic, Romania, Germany, Bulgaria not qualified to perform. EU citizens, and provider of trading and business influenced development in the Nitra and Italy. Persons of foreign origin from as qualified workers, are employed services. Some companies located region. In conjunction with the Rhine– third countries, either temporarily or in the NSR mainly as technicians, in the region rank among the largest Main–Danube Canal, it is also accepted permanently residing within the NSR engineers, managers, teachers, lecturers companies within Slovakia by sales by the European Union not only as a come from China, Indonesia, South of foreign languages, clergymen, revenue. Of the total number of industrial major route but also as a residential axis, Korea, the Russian Federation, Serbia electrical engineers and drivers. They companies operating in the region, 312 particularly in the emerging countries. and Macedonia. Statistics provided come mainly from Poland, the Czech have foreign interest. The NSR also has the Nitra-Janíkovce by the Office of Labour, Social Affairs Republic, Romania and Bulgaria, but are regional airport. It is an international and Family in Nitra show a majority of also from Germany, Italy, Belgium, the public airport for irregular air transport, citizens of the European Union (EU) Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Hungary, with several tens of commercial arrivals working in NSR occupy positions as Greece and Austria. These persons of and departures from and to surrounding labourers. EU citizens work primarily foreign origin need no permission to countries. in the region as construction workers, work in Slovakia and are registered at auxiliary construction workers and the relevant employment offices. seasonal workers either in agriculture or manufacturing. Nitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

PAGE 6 PAGE 7 3 Migration issues at the Nitra Self-governing Region level

Persons of foreign origin who need For the reasons mentioned above, most Key problems to addressing and Insufficient financial permission to work in Slovakia in order persons of foreign origin working in the managing the integration of migrants to be employed usually have jobs in the region are employed in jobs that do support for NSR that they are qualified to perform. not require any specific qualification. 1. Legal obstacles preventing integration integration-related (cultural These are managers, civil engineers, These primarily involve manual work, of migrants. and social) activities in architects, executives, doctors, directors where even a minimum wage sufficiently 2. Insufficient integration-related practical migrant communities from and technicians who are trained or motivates persons of foreign origin to activities. certified. They come from Korea, accept jobs that do not interest locally 3. Insufficient financial support for government funding, i.e. Vietnam, Moldova, Japan, Malaysia, registered job applicants. Lack of integration-related (cultural and social) Funds from the Ministry Ukraine, Thailand, Serbia, Indonesia, knowledge of the language and the host activities in migrant communities of Culture or other Macedonia, Albania, China, Croatia, country’s culture usually does not prevent from government funding, i.e. Funds Bosnia and Herzegovina, Argentina, these manual-labour jobs from being from the Ministry of Culture or other grant schemes linked Brazil and the Russian Federation. filled. These jobs can be done almost grant schemes linked to the Slovak to the Slovak Republic immediately after initial training. Persons Republic government budget. government of foreign origin who come to the NSR 4. Under-spending of funds from the EU budget. to work usually arrive alone without their - EIF European Fund for integrating family members. Their aim is to earn third country nationals. Solidarity in as much money as possible in order to managing the flow of migrants. secure a higher standard of living for their families. Therefore, they tend to be willing and prepared to work overtime, encouraging their employers to favour this work force over local employees who spend time with their families after working hours. Nitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

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Key Problems/ Challenges

i. integrating working migrants and persons immigrating to seek work ii. No special system of public services exist for immigrants and persons of foreign origin, from adult education, language education and access to legal and practical information to civil society orientation courses iii. weak incentives to promote entry of qualified persons of foreign origin into the labour market iv. arrival of persons of foreign origin into the NSR labour market depends on actual and current offers in the labour market v. persons of foreign origin come to the region in order to get to older EU member states vi. foreign investors who participate to a great degree in creating jobs do not create competitive working conditions vii. no functional network to provide persons in Nitra Region of foreign origin with quality counselling in a language they understand viii. negative demographic development in the region Nitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

PAGE 10 PAGE 11 4. Problem/Solution Table, Problem/Solution Tree Nitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

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Problem/ Solution Tree Nitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

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PAGE 16 PAGE 17 5 Stakeholders Nitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

PAGE 18 PAGE 19 6 Activity plan Nitra Self-Governing Region OPENCities Local Action Plan

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The Local Action Plan was developed by:

Mgr. Ing. Miloslava Kollárová, Head of Foreign Relations and Tourism Department of NSG Region Bc.Denis Kristek, Regional Development Agency Topo iansko in cooperation with Mgr.Jana Kadle íková from Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture and members of local Support Group. PAGE 26

URBACT is a European exchange and learning programme promoting sustainable urban development. II

T T It enables cities to work together to develop solutions to

AC major urban challenges, reaffirming the key role they play

URB in facing increasingly complex societal challenges. It helps them to develop pragmatic solutions that are new and sustainable, and that integrate economic, social and environmental dimensions. It enables cities to share good practices and lessons learned with all professionals involved in urban policy throughout Europe. URBACT is 300 cities, 29 countries, and 5,000 active participants. URBACT is co-financed by the ERDF Funds and the Member States.

www.urbact.eu/opencities www.opencities.e u

OPENCities is a British Council project funded by URBACT and led by Belfast City Council in collaboration with a network of European cities. The partner cities include Bilbao, Cardiff, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Nitra, Poznan, Sofia and Vienna.