I've teamed up with the University of Oslo to ask for your input to a really interesting research project, titled The European crisis and the citizens.
The project run by the ARENA Centre for European Studies will analyse labour migration to Norway from within the EU and its effects on Norwegian society and politics, as well as the societal dynamics and experiences of crisis-struck EU migrants in Norway. It's a timely study given the pre-election debates about immigration, and I'm really happy to help promote the project. I get a lot of emails from EU residents trying to move to Norway, but I rarely hear from those already here so I'll be fascinated to read the results.
Survey – Are you an EU migrant to Norway?
At this point the research team are looking for as many EU migrants as possible to take a short online survey. They plan to follow-up in more detail with interested participants, before a public dissemination event in December, with the participation of representatives from support organisations, Norwegian media and government institutions. The project will also provide relevant policy recommendations to the Norwegian government and EU institutions. In other words, people's opinions will find their way into the process of policy-making, which is why it is important to get as many opinions as possible.
If you've moved from an EU country to Norway within the last five years, then the research team would love to hear from you. To take the survey, scroll to the bottom of this page or click this link.
Senior Researcher Asimina Michailidou describes the project in more detail:
“There's already a lot of statistics out there in terms of how many EU citizens are on the move because of the EUrocrisis. What we want to find out is, first and foremost, what it means to be an EU citizen in times of crisis from the citizens' not the policy-makers' perspective. Our study is a first small step in understanding how EU integration works in times of need not in times of plenty.”
“Being an EU citizen means, in legal terms, that you have certain rights when it comes to moving, seeking/getting employment etc, but how aware are people of these rights and how do they make use of them when moving/staying in Norway? Moreover, Norway has a long tradition of providing support for immigrants and refugees, but the experiences of EU migrants in Norway are virtually unknown. As more and more Southern Europeans arrive here seeking employment, how do they experience life in Norway? What are the policies and support networks in place to help them in this transition? And how does the Norwegian public receive/perceive the arrival of crisis-fleeing Europeans?”
