Romské migrace ze Slovenska v kontextu evropských migračních trendů
Roma Migration from Slovakia in the Context of European Migration Trends

Summary/Abstract: The article looks at the issue of Roma migration from Slovakia and places it in the context of European post-communist migration in the 1990s and migration from eastern to western Europe in the early 21st century. The article is based mainly on qualitative data that the author and his colleagues collected in the form of migration biographies. The author shows that unlike Roma migration from Bulgaria and Romania to western states, migration from the Czech Republic and Slovakia was a delayed occurrence and culminated eight to ten years after the migration from the Balkan states. However, migration between the Czech Republic and Slovakia was continuous, even after the break up of the Czechoslovak state. This form of migration has been a signifi cant migration fl ow since 1945. It was initially a form of chain migration, with continuous fl ows that resulted in the creation of linked networks of relatives in both the source and target countries. The migration bridge that was formed as a result now serves a two-way fl ow of Roma short-term and long-term migration. The author demonstrates that the formation of migration bridges between Slovakia and western European countries within the European Union is similar in nature to the Roma migration from Slovakia to the Czech Republic after 1945. It is a continuous form of chain migration creating transnational bridges for two-way short-term and long-term migration based on family relationships. The author states that individual settlements in Slovakia choose different migration strategies and there are business activities that make migration from Slovakia easier. He notes that many Roma from Slovakia do not conceive migration from Slovakia as permanent migration. The majority of them continue to see their future in connection with their birthplace in Slovakia. It is only the generation of the children of current migrants who have begun to consider emigrating permanently out of Slovakia.

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