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Number of results: 10
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Abstract

This paper unpacks the legitimacy gap existing between post-communist policies of citizenship restitu-tion, the experiences of these policies, and the media coverage of these policies. Considering citizenship restitution first as analogous to property restitution, theoretically citizenship restitution appears as com-pensatory, to right the wrongs of communist- and Soviet-era seizures and border changes, and appears to establish citizenship restitution as a right. Using UK media coverage of Romania’s policy of citizen-ship restitution vis-à-vis Moldova, the paper shows the extent to which this policy is framed as an ille-gitimate loophole propagated by a ‘Romanian Other’ which is ‘giving out’ EU passports, exploited by an impoverished and criminal ‘Moldovan Other’, and inflicted on a ‘UK Self’ that is powerless to stem the tide of migration and block routes to gaining access to the EU via such policies. However, the paper also contrasts, and challenges, this media framing by using interviews with those acquiring Romanian citizenship in Moldova to demonstrate the extent to which acquiring Romanian citizenship in Moldova is a costly and lengthy procedure. Overall, the paper shows the extent to which citizenship restitution is a contested procedure, constructed as a right by the state seeking to compensate former citizens, and as illegitimate by those who construct a logic resulting from feeling threatened by policies of citizenship restitution.

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Authors and Affiliations

Eleanor Knott
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Abstract

This article contributes to the growing debate on reintegration and the positioning of returnees in their home societies. Increasingly, studies focus on returnees’ agency in reintegration processes, their practices of mobility in return and their use of social capital and financial and social remittances acquired abroad. Much less analysed is how ethnicity influences such processes of return and experiences of reintegration. In this paper we examine how returnees belonging to different ethnic groups – Germans, Romanians and Roma – reintegrate in a Romanian multi-ethnic context with marked ethnic inequality and lasting segregation. Fieldwork was carried out in a town that has undergone massive changes in the past 30 years due to the combined effects of foreign direct investment and international migration. Economically, the town changed from a poor and decaying context, to one that was poor but developing and finally to one experiencing strong development. Using a modes-of-integration perspective and analysing returnees’ reintegration and mobilities, we show how return evolved as an ethnicised process in different contexts of reception.
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Authors and Affiliations

Remus Gabriel Anghel
1
ORCID: ORCID
Ovidiu Oltean
2
ORCID: ORCID
Alina Petronela Silian
3
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Department of Sociology, Faculty of Political Sciences, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, and Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, Romania
  2. Department of Political Sciences, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania
  3. Doctoral School of Sociology, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Babeș-Bolyai University and National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania
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Abstract

Drawing on in-depth interviews with Romanian workers posted in the German construction and meat-pro-cessing industries, with representatives of German unions and with migrant advisers, and on ethno-graphic work, this study examines precarity in posted employment. Firstly, the paper describes the precarious circumstances of Romanians posted in the construction and meat-industry sectors in Ger-many. Secondly, analysing the Romanians’ own perspectives, it shows that low wages in the country of origin, often associated with insecurity and poor working conditions, drive these workers to engage in posted work. Their lack of knowledge of the German language prevents them from finding and carrying out standard jobs in Germany and, thus, determines that they remain in posted employment. Finally, the paper argues that posted workers experience different layers of precarity in the country of destination. It shows that those under contract with various companies for short periods of time are more precarious than de facto posted workers and workers with long-term informal agreements with one single employer.

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Authors and Affiliations

Alexandra Voivozeanu
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Abstract

Nowadays, one of the biggest challenges faced by EU countries is the pursuit of zero-emission economies. Certainly, it is crucial to determine the role of fossil fuels in the energy transformation. In light of the European Green Deal, EU countries should cease the consumption of hydrocarbons, i.e. coal, crude oil and natural gas, by 2050. Nevertheless, there are significant differences regarding the possibility of decarbonizing the energy sectors of the different EU Member States. For many years, Romania has been successively implementing an energy transformation, the main goal of which is the significant reduction of fossil fuels in the energy mix. Just a few years ago, one of the most important energy resources was coal, which is to be eliminated within the next decade. However, a much greater challenge is the reduction and subsequent abandonment of natural gas and crude oil. The key task facing Romania is to ensure energy security, which is why decarbonization will be strongly coupled with the country’s economic and political capabilities. The exclusion of fossil fuels in power engineering means that there is a need to develop alternative generation capacities, in particular in nuclear, wind and solar energy. This article presents the current condition of the energy sector in Romania, with a particular emphasis on the role of fossil fuels in its transformation. An analysis of documents and field research shows that there will be a dynamic decarbonization in the coming years, which will result in a significant reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels. The priority of Romania’s energy policy is to achieve a zero-emission economy, but ensuring stability and security in the energy sector will be of key importance in this process.
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Authors and Affiliations

Wiktor Hebda
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland
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Abstract

This work focuses on the paleoenvironmental and palaeoclimatological history of the undisturbed core sequence of 8.6 m extracted from the Bottomless Lake (Tăul fără fund) sphagnum peat bog located in Bǎgǎu, Romania, which covers the last 8,600 years based on radiocarbon dating. By comparing results of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations carried out so far in the area, results of the loss on ignition analyses and the data of the chronological analyses, it was possible to reconstruct climatic factors and anthropogenic impacts on the local environment. The undisturbed core sequence has above 86% organic matter content all along excluding the erosion horizons. Anthropogenic effects (building, woodcutting, pasturage, husbandry, farming) and changes in the local climate, vegetation, and environment increased the rate of the erosion and decreased the rate of the accumulation.

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Authors and Affiliations

Tamás Zsolt Vári
Dávid Molnár
Pál Sümegi
Balázs Pál Sümegi
Tünde Törőcsik
Edit Szakál
Réka Benyó-Korcsmáros
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Abstract

Migrants’ property ownership in their countries of origin is often understood through the prism of return: both intended and actual return mobilities. Applying a transnational optic, this article unpacks the relationships between migrants’ property ownership ‘back home’ and their reflections on future moves and stays, not limited to possible return. We draw on 80 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2020 with Polish and Romanian migrants living in Barcelona and Oslo. They left their homeland, sometimes following domestic migration or international migration to other countries, before arriving in Spain and Norway. Based on these case studies of East–West migration within Europe, we contribute to work recognising the ongoing complex and diversified nature of mobilities in Europe. First, we detail what migrants’ property ownership looks like in practice – forms of ownership, types of property, location. Second, we focus on how owning property in Poland or Romania intersects with migrants’ considerations about moving or staying in the future, beyond return. Considerations about future (im)mobility shed light on transnational relationships, as these evolve over time and across space. Furthermore, we find that transnational property ownership in their countries of origin reveals much about migrants’ relations with people and places ‘back home’ and reflects the known non-linearity of migration stories. Overall, however, transnational property ownership is a poor predictor of both return plans and intentions.
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Authors and Affiliations

Davide Bertelli
1
ORCID: ORCID
Marta Bivand Erdal
2
ORCID: ORCID
Anatolie Coşciug
3
ORCID: ORCID
Angelina Kussy
4
ORCID: ORCID
Gabriella Mikiewicz
5
Kacper Szulecki
6
ORCID: ORCID
Corina Tulbure
7
ORCID: ORCID

  1. VID Specialized University, Norway
  2. Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norway
  3. “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Romania
  4. Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
  5. University of Oldenburg, Germany
  6. Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Norway
  7. GRECS, University of Barcelona, Spain
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Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on health systems, on many economic sectors and on the labour market. This critical situation is also accompanied by social destabilisation, which has exacerbated inequalities and severely affected the most disadvantaged population groups, such as migrant workers. This study provides insights into the consequences of the first wave and the lockdown period in Spring 2020 of the Covid-19 pandemic on Romanians living in Italy, using data collected by the International Association Italy-Romania ‘Cuore Romeno’, within a project financed by the Romanian Department for Di-aspora and developed to support actions while strengthening the link with Romanian institutions during the pandemic. Findings show that, during the lockdown, two opposite situations occurred among Romanians. Workers in the ‘key sector’ become indispensable and experienced only small changes, while others lost their job or experienced a worsening of working conditions, with lower wages or an increase in working hours. Most workers chose to stay in Italy, relying on their savings or the support of the Italian government. Job losses, not having new employment, and having limited savings all influenced the decision of a smaller group to return to Romania. In conclusion, the analysis suggests that measures adopted should take into consider-ation that the Covid-19 pandemic might disproportionally hit population groups such as migrants, women, young people and temporary and unprotected workers, particularly those employed in trade, hospitality and agriculture.
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Authors and Affiliations

Luisa Salaris
1
ORCID: ORCID
Andrei Iacob
1
Viviana Anghel
2
ORCID: ORCID
Giulia Contu
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. University of Cagliari, Italy
  2. National University of Political Sciences and Public Administration, Romania
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Abstract

The article addresses the topic of the professional contacts between the renowned Polish histor-ian, Józef Andrzej Gierowski, and Romanian historians from academic institutions in Bucharest, Iasi and Chisinau. Following an analysis of the extant sources, it has been concluded that these contacts were the most intensive in the 1970s. They included participation in academic con-ferences, congresses and symposia, as well as private correspondence, e.g. with Veniamin Ciobanu from Iasi. In this particular case, the professional relationship evolved into a personal friendship. Józef Andrzej Gierowski’s recognisability among historians on a foreign academic forum attests to the fact that his achievements in research on the history of Central and Eastern Europe earned him considerable standing and respect among his peers.
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Authors and Affiliations

Adam Perłakowski
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie
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Abstract

Whilst the extant scholarship offers a detailed exploration of why return migrants enter self-employment or engage in business initiatives in general, we know relatively little about their involvement in transnational economic activities which connect the previous destination coun-try with the origin one and how they compare to other kinds of entrepreneurial venture in this vein. This article aims to understand these motivations by using insights from 50 semi-structured interviews conducted with traders of used cars imported in Romania, a mass phe-nomenon in the Central and Eastern European area and beyond. An important result of this research is that entrepreneurs have to consider a multitude of factors in multiple locations when entering the used-car business. The article also suggests that entrepreneurial motivations among used-car traders are not fixed but, rather, can and do change over time.
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Authors and Affiliations

Anatolie Coşciug
1
ORCID: ORCID

  1. “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Romania
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Abstract

Italy is one of the most important destination countries for Romanians. At the same time, the Italian care sector relies mainly on migrant labour, most of whom are Romanian women. Historically, Italy is considered one of the landmark countries for the southern or Mediterranean welfare state, characterised by its fragmented labour market, underdeveloped social protection system, informal economy and unpaid care work, usually done by the women in the family. Italy has one of the highest rates in Europe of both the elderly population and life expectancy at birth. In the last 20 years, the care work was gradually redistributed to migrant care workers, most of them women from former socialist countries, who often live in the household where they work. Migration from Eastern Europe, particularly Romania, has been facilitated, on the one hand, by rising unemployment and low-paid job opportunities in migrants’ countries of origin in the context of the deindustrialisation of state industry and, on the other, by the Italian elderly public-support system which is based on cash benefits granted to the family which can be redistributed to employ migrant care workers. In this paper we analyse three specific types of care work migration from Romania to Italy and the main challenges which they face, taking into account the specifics of the work and the type of migration chosen. The methodology is qualitative, based on 20 semi-structured online interviews with Romanian care workers and two interviews with stakeholders.
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Authors and Affiliations

Sebastian Țoc
1 2
Dinu Guțu
1

  1. National University of Political Science and Public Administration, Romania
  2. Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy, Romania

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