The impact of migration crisis on local communities in Serbia and the possibilities for integration of the migrant population

Tekst predstavlja nalaze istraživanja građana, predstavnika civilnog sektora i predstavnika lokalne samouprave u sedam općina u Srbiji (na jugu i sjeveru), u čijem se fokusu nalaze stavovi prema migrantskoj populaciji i mogućnostima njihove integracije u slučaju trajnog naseljavanja. Pri odabiru općina uključenih u istraživanje, osnovni kriterij je bio da se radi o onim lokalnim sredinama koje su bile pogođene “migrantskom krizom”, odnosno koje su se nalazile na tzv. Balkanskoj migrantskoj ruti. Osnovna istraživačka metoda koja je korištena jest ispitivanje stavova i mišljenja u okviru fokus grupa. Dimenzije koje su nas posebno interesirale bile su: opći stavovi o migrantima, razlike koje se mogu izdvojiti u stavovima prema migrantima s obzirom na specifična obilježja, stavovi o mogućnostima ekonomske, kulturne i socijalne integracije migranata i percepcija razvojnih potencijala koje bi donijelo naseljavanje migranata. U fokusu su bile dvije poredbene dimenzije: južne naspram sjevernih općina i građanstvo naspram predstavnika lokalnih vlasti i administracije.This paper brings the results of the research of the citizens, representatives of civil sector and representatives of local authorities in seven Serbian municipalities (northern and southern), focusing on the statements and attitudes towards migrant population and possibilities of their integration in the case of their permanent settlement in Serbia. The main criterum for choosing respondents from specific municipalities was that they belong to local communities affected by the latest “migration crisis”, i.d. that they were at the so called ‘’Balkan route”. The main research method was group interview within focus groups. In this paper, the focus of the analysis is on the following dimensions: general attitudes towards migrants, differences in perceptions of migrants, perceptions of differences among migrants, cultural, social and economic integration of migrant population and perceptions of development potentials of migrant settlement in Serbia. We were specifically interested to explore differences between respondents on two dimensions: southern vs. northern municipalities and citizens vs. representatives of local authorities and administration