Description
The investigation will examine how EU funds earmarked for migrant “integration” and “protection” in Romania are spent, and why they fail to translate into real support for non‑EU workers. It will reveal how money circulates through key institutions and a small circle of NGOs, what services migrants actually receive compared to what is promised, and how these gaps shape exploitation risks, mental health, and decisions to stay in Romania or move onward in the EU.
“For six years, the Romanian government has been announcing new visa quotas for non‑EU workers, yet the support they receive once they arrive is almost non‑existent. Treated merely as imported labour and reduced to economic variables, neither the state nor the organisations tasked with assisting them make any real effort to support their integration. Hundreds of thousands of people arrive in a country where there are no safe spaces, no legal or psychological assistance, no Romanian language courses or vocational guidance, and not even clear mechanisms to report abuse by employers and recruiters. Although Romania has received over 100 million euros in EU funding for migrant integration and anti‑trafficking, in more than two years of close work with Asian communities I have not met a single migrant who received real crisis support from the organisations funded through these schemes. Meanwhile, journalistic investigations consistently show how trafficking and labour abuse flourish with impunity. Together with researchers from the Center for Comparative Migration Studies, who bring over a decade of experience in migration research, we aim to uncover what kinds of campaigns and projects are used to justify these public funds and what the real impact of institutional abandonment is on migrants’ lives.” — Iulia Hau, journalist
Project Team
Media outlet
Research organisation
Center for Comparative Migration Studies (CSCM)
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
https://migrationcenter.ro/
Anatolie Coșciug
Co-Director
Romania
