VESELA KOVACHEVA
University of Münster
»Integration - not a Problem for EU Citizens? Analysis of the Integration Situation of Bulgarian Migrants in Germany«
ABSTRACT
Although generally EU citizens have been perceived as capable of being easily integrated, migration from the most recent EU member states Bulgaria and Romania has been considered as a challenge. Against this background, the dissertation explores the integration situation of Bulgarian migrants in Germany seeking to identify challenges and potentials of intra-EU migration. Integration is analyzed at two interrelated levels – at institutional level by looking at the institutional settings for intra-EU migrants, and at individual level by exploring the participation of migrants in selected areas of economic, social and political life. The analysis is based on qualitative (document analysis and expert interviews) as well as quantitative data (a migrant survey among Bulgarian migrants at selected meeting points in Hamburg).
BIOGRAPHY
Vesela Kovacheva is a Ph.D. student in political sciences and economic policy at the University of Münster, Germany. Since 2007 she has been working as a researcher at the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI). She received her B.A. with honors in International Relations at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia (2006) and holds a master degree in European Studies from Europa-Kolleg Hamburg and University of Hamburg (2007). Her research interests include migration policies, internal migration, integration and integration policies and illegality.
PUBLICATIONS
Vesela Kovacheva, Dita Vogel, Bill Jordan, Xiaonan Zhang (forthcoming): Comparing the development of free movement and social citizenship for internal migrants in the European Union and China – converging trends?, in: Citizenship Studies.
Vesela Kovacheva, Dita Vogel (2011): Weniger Rechtsverletzungen durch mehr Informationen? Arbeitsmarkterfahrungen und Informationsbedarf bulgarisch- und albanischsprachiger Zugewanderter in Berlin. Abschlussbericht einer Primärerhebung im Auftrag des Beauftragten des Senats von Berlin für Migration und Integration.
Vesela Kovacheva, Dita Vogel and Hannah Prescott (2011): The size of the irregular migrant population in the European Union – Counting the uncountable?, in: International Migration. Vol. 49, Issue 5, October. 2011, p. 78-96.
Vesela Kovacheva (2010): Irregular Migration in Germany since the turn of the millennium – development, economic background and discourses, Database on Irregular Migration, Working paper No. 5, HWWI, Hamburg.
Vesela Kovacheva, Norbert Cyrus (2010): Undocumented Migration in Germany: many figures, little comprehension, in: Anna Triandafyllidou (Ed.): Irregular Migration in Europe. Myths and Realities. Farnham, Ashgate, 2010, S.125-144.