Migration between States and Markets

Liège has always been a city of passage, of migration, of intercultural encounters. Due to its location at the core of Europe and to its economic and industrial structure, Liège has for decades attracted immigrants. In the nineteenth century, migrants were coming mainly from Flanders, which at the time was an underdeveloped rural area. In the interwar period, many migrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries settled in the region. Right after the Second World War, the mining industry needed an additional labor force. It came from Italy and later from Morocco and other countries. Nowadays, refugees and asylum-seekers from Africa and Asia live in the city and in the region. Liège is a multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial society with a long tradition of integration and toleration. Of course, Liège is no paradise. In this changing city, there are serious social and economic problems that sometimes find an expression in the field of ethnicity. But, contrary to other Belgian cities, racist and fascist political parties do not play a significant role in local politics.