Abstract
Focusing on a population of white-collar immigrants who chose to move from Romania to Brussels-Capital Region between 2014 and 2019, this article signals the formation of a third wave of Romanian migration. The participants in the study are Romanians residing in Brussels, corresponding to the features of the European Man (Homo Europaeus) and they belong to the middle class leaving Romania at an accelerated pace motivated by the desire to achieve a transnational lifestyle and an improvement of subjective well-being. We draw our findings from both quantitative data on mobility in the EU and qualitative research that reveals what are the elements that push, attract, and retain RWCIs to Brussels. It is also an opportunity to reflect upon the notion of sense of place experienced by a population that, despite having only recently moved to Brussels, already shows a high degree of attachment.
Highlights
10 December 1989The end of communist dictatorship2 triggers a first wave of emigrants leaving in the early 1990s when Romania opens its borders and Romanian citizens are granted the right to have a permanent passport
58 The presented research aimed to analyse a new kind of Romanian migrants to Belgium, those who arrived after the removal of transitional restrictions for Bulgarians and Romanians in 2014
We assert that they compose “the third migratory wave” in comparison with the first wave of low skilled workers and the second wave dominated by medical staff during the transition period
Summary
10 December 1989The end of communist dictatorship triggers a first wave of emigrants leaving in the early 1990s when Romania opens its borders and Romanian citizens are granted the right to have a permanent passport. The paper wants to highlight the limited but synergistic relationship between RWCIs and those who emigrated before them, stating that the blanket of low-skilled Romanian workers represents the foundation on which large “transnational communities” were later built, in countries such as Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Germany, France and, more recently, Belgium. Over this first solid layer of builders, agricultural workers and housekeepers, Romanians from middle and uppermiddle class found the right conditions to settle down and prosper. The Romanian community in the Brussels-Capital Region is an optimal case study to illustrate this stratification, as will be demonstrated when we will analyse the factors leading to the accelerated growth of the community
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