The roles and functions of Polish immigrant organisations in Europe

Abstract

The Polish migrant diaspora is both broad and diverse: at least 2.2 million Polish citizens originating from different migration waves live in other countries of the European Union. There are also estimates that at least twice as many people with a Polish migration background live in the EU. Polish diaspora in Europe has a long - in some cases lasting more than 100 years - tradition of self-organisation. Polish immigrant organisations are spread all over EU countries. The goal of the paper is to answer the question about the dominant functions of the Polish immigrant organisations PIOs in European countries (Germany, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands) perceived from the perspective of various actors - organisations, Polish diaspora, and external experts. Such a multidimensional approach results from a larger research project based on the feldwork, which consisted of both quantitative and qualitative approaches.