Brief conversation with a young Italian woman

According to the article 9 of the Treaty of the European Union and according to the article 20 (paragraph 1) on the functioning of the European Union, is considered as “citizen of the Union every person holding the nationality of a Member State. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship”. As a matter of fact it’s logical that every citizen of the Union has “the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States”.
Certainly, in Europe today’s context, the freedom of movement has very obvious effects on the demography of various cities and regions of the Union whose population is more diversified in terms of origins than in the past decades. [1]

On this matter, Brussels turns out to be an interesting example. Just have a walk through the city and you will realize that. I am myself doing it this afternoon for instance. From Place de la Chapelle, I am passing by small streets in the centre on my way to the European neighborhood. Various faces and languages reckoned during my walk are the proofs of a rich and multicultural environment.
The young nationals from EU member states we met in this city are often pretty skilled. Indeed, being the institutional Capital of the EU enable Brussels to attract many activities and become an important pole of attraction.

LEAVE THE NATIVE COUNTRY TO GAIN ITS INDEPENDENCE
 
However do the numerous EU citizens, often endowed with a significant know-how, move only to seize new opportunities offered by the integration process or do the economic imbalances between EU regions hide behind the free movement? Are those differences creating an imperfect market where we count areas with, at first, few interesting perspectives for young citizens and others area becoming hubs?

By the way, I am arriving now to Valeria Ramiconi’s place. Valeria has accepted to be interviewed for the sake of this story aiming at getting to know the view of a young professional who left her native country in order to work in Brussels.
Valeria is 29 and comes from Rome. After studies in Political Science, she moved to Brussels for an internship at Agriconsulting Europe SA where she works today as project manager.

"I arrived in Brussels two years ago. At the end of my Master in Project Management, I had the opportunity to do a stage and I wanted to have a professional experience abroad. I applied for three or four job offers and I was then selected for a job in Brussels. Well we can say that I arrived here by chance. I eventually kept on working for the same company. I have today a permanent contract.”
Therefore Valeria didn't look for a job in Italy as a first choice. However she had later the opportunity to make her own view on the differences between the Belgian and the Italian markets. “Those last months - she recounts- I did receive job offers from Italy but the working conditions wouldn't have been the same as the one I enjoy here and the wage was lower… In addition, friends of mine there, as old as I am, didn't make their living with their respective job so that they have to live in their parents' place or share a flat while tightening their belt. Here at least I can enjoy my independence”.

Valeria's first sentences give us an insight of Italy not really attractive for young citizens, even for the ones who have University's degrees. Those graduated citizens have trouble to find a job matching with their skills and have poor professional opportunities. It is to be explained by a system blocked by the preservation of some privileges and by the lack of meritocracy.
 
A LOST GENERATION
 
According to Valeria “those failures are especially the result of an incompetent ruling class whose objective isn't the achievement of the common interest but the defense of private interests. For years, the ruling class has made moral what wasn't acceptable. A negative example has inspired the society. It has spread the civil moral and has distorted it”. The outcome: “We lost the sense of the res publica.” 

In that context, acquaintances or family matter a lot for the professional life. They can give a strong advantage compared to other young citizens. If you don't have this luck you get frustrated in your capabilities and ambitions. "Skills, degrees, turn out often to be not sufficient. To find the right job you need to have a good network. It's just normal that a lot of persons of my age decide to try their luck abroad" adds Valeria. She considers that the concrete solution to address Italy’s problems lies on, above all, “a good politics managed by well prepared individuals with a great vision and interests towards the sake of the youngest generations". 

In her professional life, Valeria is often in contact with European Institutions and has to deal with issues related to the EU. So I keep on taking advantage of her availability in order to ask her to give us, according to personal observations, whether Europe is suffering from multiple unbalances between some of its regions; those unbalances harming the development of a virtuous common market. "The EU- she replies- is a heterogeneous space economically and culturally speaking. There are unbalances in terms of wealth, labor market, public services and I consider it's not a positive element for the integration process. Obviously, useful instruments exist to help disadvantaged areas. Anyway, once the crisis is over, it would much appreciated to give a great importance to this matter and to strengthen Brussels’ surveillance on the efficient use of those funds dedicated to the weakest regions". 

Before thanking Valeria for her time, I ask her if she feels like going back to Italy one day. Here is her answer: “Why not? provided that I have a job enabling me to live decently. I love my country and I am proud of its history. I am sad though thinking about how the Italian politics went backwards these last decades. The Italian Constitution is a well praised model but many people in power don't know it nowadays. So if I ever want to go back things would have really to change because today I am afraid I would feel as part of a “lost generation” underpaid, harnessed and deprived from its legitimate perspectives”.



[1] Clearly, the multicultural contexts being formed int the EU are the result of people movement between Member States and of the migration of people from third countries. K. Vasileva explains that «31.9 million» (which means, «6.4% of the total EU population») of «non-nationals […] were living on the territory of the EU Member States on 1 January 2009», more then one third «(11.9 million), were citizens of another Member State» (Katya Vasileva, Foreigners living in the EU are diverse and largely younger than the nationals of the EU Member States, Eurostat, Statistics in focus, 45/2010, p.1.