Britons in Romania talk to an Austrian paper about Brexit

This article by Marlies Eder, published in the Austrian newspaper “Die Presse” last month, is reproduced by kind permission, translated by Frank Fisher. Like all newspaper articles about things one knows about, it contains fairly big mistakes, but in this case only three or four. 

“Go Back to Your Rainy Island”

Brexit. Around 2,200 [source? - some estimate a much smaller number - P.V.E.W.] Britons live in Romania, in contrast to 411,000 Romanians in Great Britain. A majority is against Brexit and are afraid that they may be forced to go back home. [I don't think anyone is afraid they may be forced to go home. P.V.E.W.]

Bucharest. It seems as though he provoked the seconds-long silence. Colin Shaw says nothing as he climbs into his 1996 green Land Rover. Obviously on the right side, not the left. He explains only when asked that he drove the whole way from Great Britain to Romania in the British all-terrain vehicle in order to transport tourists around the Carpathian mountains. But after more than 20 years he’s finished with it.

It was the landscapes, the wilderness and the country life that attracted Shaw, as one of 2,200 Britons, to the land on the Black Sea. The 61 year-old is leaving his second home, the Siebenbürgen – the seven Saxon fortified towns of Transylvania - against his will. “Romania is not a place to become old and ill” – and there is the oppression of the justice system, authoritarian tendencies, corruption, poor healthcare and tax disadvantages. And now Brexit.

As an expat Briton he could of course not vote [Translator’s note: this is not correct!], but he belongs to the Britons in Romania who are against leaving. Shaw says: ”I am no longer proud to be British.” But staying in Romania is not an option for him. He reckons there will be reprisals from the authorities. After the Poles, Romanians are the second-largest group of migrants in Great Britain: officially 411,000, or ten percent of all Romanian migrant workers. They work in agriculture, in construction, in supermarkets, as nurses. NGOs are afraid that after Brexit they will be compelled to leave for purely administrative reasons – although they have been taxpayers for many years.

“Go back to your rainy island!” Frank Fisher is also afraid of this sentence. He languidly stirs his coffee in a small cafė in the centre of Bucharest. “A lot of Romanians ask me: ‘why do you live in this awful country?’ They do not understand. But I don’t feel that I migrated the wrong way.”

It was the mixture of influences of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires – and love – that drew this septuagenarian to Romania 15 years ago. “My greatest concern is the uncertainty”. The Brexit vote has already had consequences: “Because of the fall in the pound, the value of my pension has dropped by 20 percent.” He is also concerned about the future of his children in London. “We are on the wrong side of history”, opines Fisher. “A small off-shore island has little chance today of becoming a world power.”

Mike Ormsby has harsher words. “Brexit was a big idea for small minds”, says the former BBC journalist and author, who has produced three books about his life in Romania. He would have preferred to take a new nationality. However, despite his antecedents he will not obtain an Irish passport. Acquiring Romanian nationality in his view involves too many bureaucratic obstacles.

So Ormsby and his wife will remain loyal to their home of choice in Transylvania – as Britons. Sarcastically, he puts it: “I shall in future write tales about Britons who love living in Romania but think that Brexit is a good idea. They do exist.”

Paul Wood belongs to this minority of Brexiteers in Romania – and is considered one of the most vociferous. “Of course, it depends what the British make of it. If they believe that it is not possible to survive without the EU, they lack faith in their own people” claims this owner of a recruitment company.

Ultimately it is not a question of the economy, but rather of national freedom. “The EU is not right for Great Britain. We are an island. That is a big difference. We do not feel European. And we are not.” For twenty years now, Wood has lived on his own personal island, Romania. The Romanians have got under his skin.

As a “Latin people surrounded by Slavs and Hungarians, located in the wrong part of Europe” is how he describes them, enthusing about their romance and passion. He has no worries about his future as an expat. “Britons are the most popular nationality in Romania. We are not as vulgar as the Americans, and, unlike the Germans, have a sense of humour.”

Travel and culture – yes; part of the political system – no. That’s the way David Howard sees it, too.

“The British are not turning their back on Europe. It is just the undemocratic structure of the EU that they have a problem with.” As part of the Union, London is losing political control. For greater sovereignty, the British just have to be prepared to pay the price. “Brexit will certainly have short-term economic consequences”, says the real estate valuer. “But it is a mistake to believe that we cannot survive outside the EU.”