Valdis` Dombrovskis` comments on migration
As we are exploring the problem of migration, we had many questions about it before our visit to the EP. What is the real situation with migration? Is it necessary to change anything? When will the number of emigrants reduce? We hoped to find answers to these and many other questions during our trip to Strasbourg as we were to meet and to interview the British and the Latvian members of the European Parliament. We were especially interested in MEP Valdis` Dombrovskis' opinion about migration as it is an acute problem in Latvia.
Answering our questions, V. Dombrovskis mentioned several reasons for migration which are similar to our town Kraslava inhabitants' opinions. He thinks that massive emigration from Latvia is an economical problem. The main reason of emigration is big difference between salaries in Latvia and other, basicly old EU countries. Most of people go to the UK and to Ireland because these countries were the first ones that opened their borders for workers and, as most of our people speak some English, these countries are the most "popular". Migration provoked another problem - there are no enough employees in Latvia and companies can not develop as so many qualified workers left the country. As a result, Latvia is compelled to look for workers from CIS countries.
Valdis Dombrovskis forecasts that the situation will change in 3 - 5 years when our standard of living and salaries will be close to European ones. Even now they are growing by about 20% a year, although its consequence is growing inflation. In other words, migration will stop when our economical situation will become stable.
I can make a conclusion that our parliamentarians are worried about this problem, but, honestly, I can not agree with the solutions they offered. Even if a part of our people come back to Latvia, there will be still a possibility of immigrants` from the third countries to come to Latvia. V. Dombrovskis said that people from Romania and Bulgaria are not interested in coming to Latvia yet, but if our economical situation improves in some years and the standard of living becomes higher, then Latvia will be an attractive country to live and to work in.
Last, migration is a problem which has to be solved by people, not time.
