“People think that Romanians and Roma are the same”: everyday bordering and the lifting of transitional controls

ABSTRACT

On 1 January 2014 the transitional controls on free movement adopted by the UK when Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007, ended. This paper demonstrates how the discourses of politicians relating to their removal, amplified via news media contributed to the extension of state bordering practices further into everyday life. Based on ethnographic research into everyday bordering during 2013–15 the paper uses an intersectional framework to explore how this homogenizing, bordering discourse was experienced and contested from differently situated perspectives of Roma and non-Roma social actors from established communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Roma
• bordering
• London
• Dover
• transitional controls
• European Union migration

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all research participants in Kent and London who were so generous with their time and willing to share their experiences and insights. We are grateful to our partners in the EUBORDERSCAPES research project for their intellectual engagement and to the two anonymous reviewers for their scholarly and constructive feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. KentOnline: “KCC leader [ … ] set for thousands of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania as working restrictions lifted”, 1 January 2014. Accessed 22 June 2015. http://www.kentonline.co.uk/deal/news/county-set-for-influx-of-10736/

2. ibid.

3. Identity categories we use are those that arose during interviews, see the introduction to this Special Issue for a discussion of terms used.

4. After 3 months, when putting in a claim they become subject to a more stringent HBT and a “genuine prospect of work” test. To meet the requirements EEA nationals must pass the minimum earnings threshold, based upon paying National Insurance contributions for the previous three months.

5. The stereotype included pictures of “women in colourful traditional dress while begging with children” as noted by Guy (2003, 70).

6. BBC News: “Romanian and Bulgarian migration debate - views in Europe”, December 18 2013. Accessed 15 June 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25429420 . The press examples are as cited in the BBC report.

7. 18 months later the dominant focus shifted from EU migration back to “refugees” and “asylum seekers” crossing the Mediterranean and the Balkans to reach EU countries.

8. The simplification of complex experiences of Roma populations contrasts with other reports addressing this theme nationally for example Glennie and Pennington (2013).

9. For example “Romania and Bulgaria have a fairly high number of people who identify themselves as Roma. There are thought to be an estimated 10 to 12 million Roma living in Europe. Estimates of the number of Roma in the UK vary widely from 100,000 to one million.” (Kent County Council 2013)

10. For example “It is possible that nationals from Romania and Bulgaria who identify themselves as Roma will choose to migrate to Kent, but it is not possible to estimate or model this due to a lack of reliable data. Should Roma communities from Romania and Bulgaria settle in Kent, it is possible that some will require more support and resources from public services, partly due to the background of discrimination and deprivation that some Roma people come from” (KCC 2013).

11. For example “Conversations with KCC officers [and others] have identified some concerns that Eastern European Roma children in Kent [ … ] are becoming victims of trafficking, exploitation and prostitution” (KCC 2013).

12. BBC Kent Online: “Council leader in immigration impact report call”, 10 April, 2013. Accessed 22 June, 2015. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-22101490)

13. See Varju and Plaut in this journal for the historical context for the lack of data.

14. KentOnline: “KCC leader [ … ] set for thousands of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania as working restrictions lifted”, 1 January 2014. Accessed 22 June 2015. http://www.kentonline.co.uk/deal/news/county-set-for-influx-of-10736/

15. Mail Online: “Exposed: What they DIDN’T tell you about new wave of migrants heading for booming Britain”, 28 December 2013. Accessed 22 June 2015. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2530503/Exposed-What-DIDNT-tell-new-wave-migrants-heading-booming-Britain.html

16. She also referred to the group including friends from Congo.

17. The interpreter was a white Slovak woman.

18. In earlier fieldwork on the Romanian border a woman reluctant to become involved in the cigarette trade said: “I don’t want to gypsy myself by getting involved in trading cigarettes across the border”

19. In 2013 in Romania, DS, an educated businesswoman, suggested that Romania has a high population of Roma because they are more tolerant of Roma than other European nation-states. As Woodcock (2007) has argued, DS’ comment reflects broader political discourses, framing the Roma as a “European problem”.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by EUBORDERSCAPES (Bordering, Political Landscapes and Social Arenas: Potentials and Challenges of Evolving Border Concepts in a post-Cold War World) [290775] funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme [FP7-SSH-2011-1] Area 4.2.1. The evolving concept of borders.