Migration is one of the most serious problems facing Romania at this time, along with the lack of infrastructure. However, the return of Romanians to the country could bring a wealth of civic knowledge to change mentalities, said Felix Patrascanu, founder of FAN Courier, during a press conference organized by the Romanian Business Leaders Foundation (RBL).
According to some information presented at the event, a study by the United Nations shows that 3.4 million Romanians left the country between 2007 and 2017, accounting for 17% of the country’s population.
The leaders of RePatriot team, the project of repatriation through entrepreneurship addressed Romanians from Diaspora, launched by the Romanian Business Leaders Foundation, have proposed the topics below for discussion:
- Workforce shortage and the lack of entrepreneurial initiative due to massive migration and the lack of confidence in the future
- What we and our proposals do to attract Romanians closer to Romania
- Local public administration and local opinion leaders can play a major role – Our message to the local public administration
Diaspora Days 2018
- Business community contribute to understanding the situation and creating new economic and cultural connections – the 3rd edition of the RePatriot Summit on 4-7 October 2018
„The exodus is one of Romania’s biggest problems. The problem is no longer just that a part of Romanians have left, but that they are still leaving, the rhythm of departures does not decline, the rhythm of return. The rhythm of home returning is rather low, and statistics and forecasts look pretty bad. Somehow this issue is ignored, but the opportunity is ignored. Where there is a problem, the opportunity usually also appears. This is completely ignored by the administration, the Government. These millions of Romanians are a wealth. If we assess their knowledge, the expertise gained in the other countries, not only the financial aspect, the money sent, we see that they are Romania’s greatest wealth,” said Marius Bostan, the RePatriot initiator.
According to him, Romanian Business Leaders believe that the lack of workforce and the workforce crisis is Romania’s most important problem.
In his turn, Felix Patrascanu, co-founder of FAN Courier, claims that while the way out of the economic crisis was relatively easy, the workforce crisis is worse.
„It is an annoying crisis and much more serious than the economic one. While we went through the economic crisis with lower a growth rhythm, we have a serious problem at the moment. In the western part of the country, Romanians are massively leaving abroad. We thought that Brexit would be a barrier for them at some point. No, on the contrary, and Romanians have become the second nation in the UK at the moment. The economic crisis can last 2, 3, 5 years, after which you recover, but the depopulation of Romania is very serious,” Patrascanu said.
Marius Bostan said that RePatriot calls on the public administration to turn its attention to this resource, and a letter was written in this respect.
„You cannot have a local development strategy without taking into account a resource or the opportunity, which is life. Take a look at all the local development strategies, 99% of them ignoring Romania’s largest resource (editor’s note, the population). It is as if it does not exist, as if there is no Romanian lung. We give them some ideas and, at the same time, we offer them our willingness to provide support by knowledge, expertise, promoting localities and what they do about life. If these representatives of local administration are interested, understand what we write and read the 3-4 pages can open a remarkable project on the occasion of the 100th anniversary, a remarkable Centenary project,” says Marius Bostan.
