Mobility and Identity in a Wider European Union

ABSTRACT

Over the past two decades, the theoretical frameworks of human mobility studies have undergone profound changes. The rise of transnational and border analysis, the formulation of the embodied experiences of migration, the increasing interest in migrants' attachment to place and sense of home have coalesced to enrich our understanding of human mobility. This paper explores how Romanian immigrants in Spain interpret the changes to their global identity in terms of self-perceptions within the context of the enlargement of the European Union (EU) towards Eastern Europe. By means of qualitative research, the principal aim of this article is to highlight how the migration process, which is closely tied to border dynamics and European expansion, and which has occurred in stages from 1990 to the present, has influenced the (re)construction of identity and the changes in discourse among immigrants. The experiences of the interviewees show that migration/mobility and place – that left behind in the country of origin and the new place in the receiving country – are essential factors in the reconstruction of identity in the twenty-first century.

Key words:

• identity
• European Union
• Romania
• Spain
• mobility

Acknowledgements

This article comes as a result of the research project entitled: ‘Eastern European migration to Spain in the context of border geopolitics: circulatory mobility and return’ (CSO 2010-14870), with funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and coordination by the author. I wish to express my gratitude to all of the Romanians migrants who shared their stories with me in the course of this research.

Notes

^1. These include the signing of the European Agreement, fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria, the adoption of the 32 chapters of acquis comunautaire, and the opening of the borders towards Eastern Europe.

^2. Source: Spanish National Institute of Statistics, Population Register, national results, 1996–2009, http://www.ine.es/jaxi/menu.do?type=pcaxis&path=%2Ft20/e245&file=inebase&L=1, accessed 2 October 2012.

^3. Some 604,357 immigrants in Spain were legalized in 2005. Ministry of Interior 2007.

^4. http://www.mtin.es/en/index.htm accessed 17 November 2012.

^5. http://www.mtin.es/en/index.htm accessed 5 September 2012.

^6. http://www.mtin.es/en/index.htm accessed 20 October 2012.

^7. European Commission (2011). Decision to Authorise Spain to Temporarily Suspend the Right of Free Circulation for Romanian Workers (Regulation 492/2011) Brussels. 11.8.2011 C (2011) 5896 final.

^8. While this does not affect self-employed workers or those receiving unemployment compensation, Spain's decision to demand work permits for Romanians only affects those who are registered with Social Security. The European Commission authorized these temporary limitations in view of Spain's economic climate, which has endured serious consequences in the labor market: (1) the highest rate of unemployment in the EU (21% as compared to the 9.4% average for the EU and 9.9% for the Eurozone) and (2) slow economic recovery, with only 0.3% growth in GNP during the first 3 months of 2011 as compared to the previous 3 months, and compared to 0.8% in the EU and the Eurozone (Spanish Ministry of Labor and Immigration, 2011). Besides Spain, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom will continue the period of restrictions until 2013.

^9. The author conducted interviews in Romanian and digitally recorded, with the permission of the research participants, and translated them before undertaking the analysis. The interviews were completed during October–November 2009 and January–April 2010 in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Zaragoza, where the largest Romanian communities in Spain are. Respondents were found through a mixed range of snowball strategies. Research participants were living in Spain at the time of the interviews. In addition, detailed notes of all interviews were taken by the researcher. Verbatim transcription and comparison of the transcripts against the field notes assured data accuracy.

^10. Those interviewed in the first group are between 45 and 60 years of age, those in the second are between 30 and 45 years of age, and those in the third are between 20 and 30 years of age.

^11. The goal of thematic analysis is to locate the most common and salient themes in the data, which are capable of representing the data group in the form of a thematic map of a phenomenon or process.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Silvia Marcu

Silvia Marcu, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Researcher ‘Ramón y Cajal’ (RYC 2009-03834) For the last decade conducting research into international migration, identity and mobility: Frontiers and flows of immigration from Eastern Europe to Spain; Studies of Geopolitics: Eastern Europe, Russia, European Union (EU) and International Relations.