Millions of people found jobs abroad thanks to freedom of movement. But now they are increasingly Eurosceptic

It would be reasonable to assume that people who move from one EU country to another in search of work and opportunity are among the union’s most reliable supporters. Freedom of movement within the 27-nation bloc is, after all, one of the big advantages of EU citizenship. But Romania’s diaspora has recently upended that theory.

With about a quarter of its 19 million citizens living abroad, mostly in western Europe, Romania has the largest diaspora in the EU. About two-thirds are economic migrants: picking fruit in Andalusia, caring for elderly people in Vienna, laying bricks in Brussels. In 2023 alone they sent home €6.5bn in remittances, almost 3% of Romania’s GDP, sustaining communities across the country.

Raluca Besliu is a Romanian journalist based in Brussels

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