The "Romanian Strawberrian" - between Hero and Hurdle

On the 1st of August 2005, an ugly rumor crossed over the Western European highways which transported Romanian citizens back to their home country for the summer holiday: “Passports were being taken away from the Romanian citizens who had illegally extended their stay in the EU, over the 90 days allowed for tourists.”

Thus, the Romanian Strawberrians: Romanians picking up strawberries and other fruits of the land in Spain, Greece, Portugal, the Romanian baby-sitters (Romanians taking care of children and old family members), the Romanian “Putzfrau”s (Romanians cleaning offices, shops and streets), the Romanian “exotic dancers” and “the Italians” (Romanians working in Italy, the pride of the Nation, because they come in August and invest a lot in houses, cars and electrical appliances) were at a loss. What to do? Enter the country and risk having your passport confiscated and thus receive an interdiction for as high as 10 years? Or make a U-turn (sic!) on the Hungarian highway and go back as quickly as possible to the Western European countries where they have been working for years, illegally?

It used to be easy to cross the home country’s border. Generally, bus drivers acted as an intermediary between the “strawberrians” and the border control authorities. Crossing the border came in handy if you had a clean consciousness, passport and luggage. With 20 euros you got the guarantee that your bus wouldn’t be turned upside down and that you would cross the border in no time. A dirty consciousness and passport cost a bit more – 150 to 300 euros. Nowadays, the Romanian “strawberrian” gets his/her passport confiscated if the documents are not in order.The Romanian nation seems to be divided into two categories: those who had the guts to leave and work either legally or illegally and those who stayed and wish they hadn’t, and envy “the Italians” who come in August and have posh clothes and posh rented cars and say “Si” to the waiter and not “Da” and want their water “frizzante” and not “mineralã”.The money sent by the Romanians working abroad to their families represents one of the main sources of the Romanian economic growth. In 1999, the money sent by the “strawberrians”, have helped elude the financial crisis looming on that moment over Romania (e.g www.baniinostri.ro – 08.08.2005).

Only in 2004, those Romanians working abroad have sent over 2 billion euros to Romania and in 2003 the figure was a billion and a half. How many are they? Figures vary from state ones which say 750.000 persons to rumored ones of up to 3 million persons.The rationale for this decision of confiscating the passports of the Romanian citizens that don’t have their documents in order is common place in the Romanian society and political discourse: “The EU wants us to!”.

The fear of being hit with the safeguard clause, the Romanian authorities are implementing a government decision which was actually taken in 2003 by the Nastase government, but not implemented for fear of losing electoral capital.Disliked (to put it mildly) by many of the citizens of Western societies and by other cheap-labor, the Romanian “strawberrians” are positioned somewhere between heroes – for many Romanians staying home and living on the money sent by them, and hurdles – for the Romanian authorities, who are pressured by the authorities of the EU member-states to act upon reducing their numbers.

Ramona Chiriac
Bacau (Romania)

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