| Ukrainian communities in Italy [message #355] |
Sat, 01 March 2008 21:44 |
 eurofan
Messages: 143
Registered: January 2008 |
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Ukrainian communities in Italy are concentrated in three regional centers, Venice in the north, Rome in the center and Naples in the south.
Specifically, he visited three regional centers, Venice in the north, Rome in the center and Naples in the south.
Italy is a G-7 and European Union member with a sagging economy, and a population of 63 million, substantially elderly. Its relations with Ukraine are significant, at least for Ukraine, in that aggregate trade between the two countries last year totaled more than three billion dollars, for Ukraine second only to Germany. The trade balance favors Ukraine by some seven hundred million. Ukraine exports chemicals and metallurgy while Italy exports finished goods such as clothing etc. Italy has become a transient home for some one million Ukrainian in recent years, although only twenty percent are legalized.
The stark movement of Ukrainians to Italy, temporary or not, can be explained by several factors: lax border control by Italy and propensity for corruption, job opportunities particularly for middle age women as caretakers of the elderly who dominate Italian society, periodic legalization amnesties and easy transport via cars and buses as well as airplanes. A legal and illegal network of busing from Ukraine throughout Italy from Naples to Milan provides facile legal and illegal transport for humans, parcels and money.
The government of Ukraine is visible with embassies in Rome and the Vatican and a consulate general in Milan. Relations between the diplomatic personnel and the Ukrainian immigrants, mainly Ukrainian citizens, have improved since Ukraine’s election of December 2004.The most significant organizational force for Ukrainians in Italy is the Ukrainian Catholic Church with permanent edifices, however, only in Rome and loaned facilities throughout some ninety communities served by itinerant priests. The Italian Roman Catholic Church provides funding and coordination directly and indirectly through structures such as Caritas.
The community is structured but not centralized with regional and local associations such as the Christian Association of Ukrainians in Italy, the Association of Ukrainians in Italy, Ukraine Plus, Association of Ukrainian Women and Association of Ukrainian Women Workers. The contemporary community leadership actively has sought and established relations with municipal authorities, trade unions, international organizations (Red Cross, International Organization for Migration, the latter in the area of human trafficking) and the media. Several communities boast of a Saturday/Sunday Ukrainian school program with facilities provided by local government officials and organizations. Text books are brought over by the teachers themselves from Ukraine. Ukraine’s Ministry of Education has been less than helpful. Aside from general legalization, the greatest need is a treaty between Ukraine and Italy regarding the logistics of receiving an Italian pension upon return to Ukraine.
Inasmuch as the average age of the Ukrainian immigrant Italy is over forty and the composition is essentially female with husbands and children back home, the future of the Ukrainian community as such is unclear. There has been some reunification of families and marriage which may ensure albeit a less sizable community. However, such analysis is premature until Ukraine reaches at least parity with the poorest countries in the EU.
http://www.eurocup2012polandukraine.com
Euro 2012 Ukraine & Poland
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