THE POST-ACCESSION MIGRATION OF POLES - A BALANCING ACT (Poakcesyjne migracje Polakow - proba bilansu)

EU enlargement and related institutional changes concerning particularly access to labour markets of 'old' EU member states shaped the scale and structural features of recent migration from Poland. The aim of the paper is to assess the recent mobility of Polish citizens. Uniquely dynamic post-accession mobility of Poles reached its peak in 2007, since then scale of mobility - measured both in terms of flows as well as in stocks of migrants - is on decline. Thus the analysis refers to the ongoing however significantly matured process. The thesis is that short- and medium-term impacts of migration are moderate, particularly in the light of increasing scale of return mobility. On the other hand, long-term impacts, including demographic effects, impacts on spatial allocation of labour, and socio-cultural changes may turn to be serious and significant, however their extent is still largely unknown.