Social disinvestment and vulnerable groups in Europe in the aftermath of the financial crisis: the case of the Romanian diaspora

This report is prepared in the framework of the Europe H2020 project ‘Rebuilding an inclusive, value based Europe of solidarity and trust through social investments’ (RE-InVEST). The project aims to evaluate the social investment strategy of the European Commission implemented in 2013 in response to the social damage of the financial crisis in 2008. The RE-InVEST consortium assesses the social damage of the crisis from human rights and capability based approaches with an eye to those vulnerable groups affected the most by the crisis in the 12 countries (and 13 regions) covered by the consortium. The analyses are carried out by the local partners, who consist of NGOs and/or researchers.[1] The RE-InVEST consortium has jointly developed the PAHRCA-methodology that combines principles of Participatory Action research with Human Rights and Capability Approaches. This qualitative, participatory research does not generate representative results but rather aims at deepening the understanding of the economic, social, cultural and political impacts of the crisis on the lives of vulnerable people by giving them a voice. In comparison to other European countries involved in this project, Romania has some specific charac­teristics. The shift to a democratic governance at the end of 1989 is still young. The scars of the communist regime are still visible in the landscape such as huge living blocks and declining industries, the so called pearls of communism. Romania didn’t have a tradition of welfare state: structures are missing and the implementation of solidarity based concepts is very sensitive because of the connotation to forced societal involvement during the communist ‘Golden Age’. Social economy for example is still associated with com­munist cooperatives and civil society brings back memories to the forced volunteering work for the com­munity. Despite a high economic growth, one of the highest in the EU, the country is facing challenges such as a high rate of people at risk of poverty (around 40%), a high degree of absolute poverty (around 10%), a growing number of in work poor (20%) and few job opportunities. In this context the Ceausescu’s New Man became an individual survivor. As a strategy to overcome these difficulties Romanians started to migrate in order to find better living conditions for themselves and others. For a long time the side effects were not taken serious and no coherent policy was developed. Only recently (February 2016), Romanian president Klaus Iohannis stated that: ‘the Romanian Diaspora is a veritable asset for the country, adding that he would like Romanians to stop leaving the country because of hardships, leaving just because they choose to do so instead. We are often talking about the loss that the Romanians’ departure abroad represents. In a different approach, however, we can also see the opportunity offered by the presence of a strong Diaspora abroad. Well engaged by a careful state, it can become an important asset for the development and modernisation of Romania, veritable capital that can be put to good use. The Romanian state has to serve all Romanians alike, from within and without the country’. He added that a new framework, one in which attention toward the Diaspora would become a national priority, will have to be translated into public poli­cies, programs and projects.[2] The Romanian national report focuses on: the impact of migration on the Romanian society and the impact of the crisis on Romanian migrants/migration. In the first part a short introduction is giving con­cerning the various migration waves. The second part deals with the financial crisis of 2008/2009 and how Romania was affected. Before going to the biographies (part 4) and the analysis of the consequence of crisis related problem in contemporary Romanian migration trends (part 5), the report presents the organisation and the methodology (part 3). Finally conclusions with references to the capability approach and policy recommendations are formulated. This report would not have been possible without the input of so many people. We would like to express our gratitude to the participants for sharing their ‘biographical narrative’ with us about their experiences with life in precarious financial circumstances. [1] http://www.re-invest.eu/ [2] http://www.nineoclock.ro/president-iohannis-deplores-diasporas-unwillingness-to-return-proposes-partnership-consultative-council-promised-to-diaspora-to-make-first-step-in-fulfilling-its-mission