Opinion. British expat, on Brexit: "I've never been so grateful to live in Romania"

In BR’s regular look at life in Bucharest and Romania through the eyes of an outsider, our correspondent reflects on the UK’s referendum result and recent threats to the capital’s lively public events scene.

Debbie Stowe

“So you’re from London but you live here in Bucharest… why?” is a question I’ve been asked innumerable times since I moved to Romania. Many local people couldn’t understand why I would choose to leave somewhere more advanced, more normal, less chaotic, and so on, to build a life and career in Eastern Europe.

“Alta tara” (another country) they would often say when I talked about aspects of life back in the UK. “It’s more civilized where you’re from.”

To me, it makes no sense to talk about being “proud” of one’s nationality. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved personally, but how can I be proud of something that I had nothing to do with? Where I was born was just dumb luck. I like a lot about the UK, and I’m grateful for the opportunities that being born there has given me, but I did nothing to earn them.

I feel the same when people here tell me that they feel “embarrassed” to admit to being Romanian when they’re travelling abroad, because of the country’s poor reputation in Western Europe. Invariably, these are hard-working, honest and decent young people who’d be a credit to any country.

But while I can’t take credit for my Britishness, I can’t deny that it’s been pleasant over the years to have people telling me how great, civilized and well-run my homeland is, to be associated with somewhere that Romanians admire and hold up as an example.

That’s all changed. The vast and damaging implications of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union are still emerging. But it’s clear that the country is irreparably diminished by the (albeit narrow) outcome of the referendum.

From being an open, tolerant nation (at least in my mind), Britain is recast as isolationist, inward-looking, fearful of foreigners and the outside world. From a country that seeks to work together with its partners to maintain peace and prosperity in Europe, it now shuns cooperation.

Is it an exaggeration to say that to Eastern Europeans, the UK and its culture have represented freedom and opportunity? Three million EU citizens are living, working and studying in Britain. And the horrible message that Brexit sends to them is that they’re unwelcome, their contribution unwanted. What an unjustifiable snub.

So now it’s my turn to be embarrassed because of my nationality, to wonder if foreigners will view me badly because of the country I come from.

Meanwhile, back in the UK – so long a bastion of stability – politics is in disarray, with Boris Johnson, the lying, opportunistic chief architect of Brexit and a man who’s insulted President Obama and offended numerous other countries and groups with his racist quips and gaffes, now in charge of Britain’s dealings with the world.

I’ve never been so grateful to live in Romania.

Road to nowhere

Of course, during my years here, Bucharest has moved a lot closer to becoming like any other Western metropolis. Part of this has to do with the public events that I’ve seen develop here – things like marathons, fitness initiatives, outdoor theater and Pride marches, which take place on the streets of the city.

These have gone from not being held at all when I first arrived in Romania (as far as I could tell), to small affairs with relatively few participants, to full-blown dates on the city calendar that attract hundreds or thousands of attendees and contribute to Bucharest’s vibrant personality.

So of course it should have come as little surprise that one of the first items on the incoming mayor’s to-do list was to try and scrap them.

(For those who don’t follow local politics, Bucharest’s new City Hall occupant Gabriela Firea infamously said the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis was not a “proper family man” because he didn’t have children. Ironically a statement with echoes in that of British prime ministerial wannabe Andrea Leadsom, who said her children gave her more of a stake in the country’s future than childless Theresa May, implying that this would make her a better leader.)

Firea recently announced that she wanted to ban “weekend activities” from the streets of the capital, because of the inconvenience caused to drivers by road closures. “A Bucharest for cars, not for people” bemoaned irate citizens.

One of the things many expats love most about Bucharest is how accessible culture is here. There’s a good range of concert venues selling affordable tickets to see diverse artists, and while in the UK opera or jazz, for example, is often considered high art and not really something for the masses, I don’t get that exclusivist feeling in Bucharest.

Here, the cultural scene seems more democratic. This definitely owes itself to the range of impressive public events, for example the Music and Film Festival and Bucharest Jazz Festival held in Piata George Enescu over the summer, which allow curious citizens to sample musical genres that could otherwise seem intimidating, without buying an expensive ticket and being locked in for two hours or more.

From marchers celebrating the LGBT community to puppets, dancers and actors in the streets, musicians playing in open squares to athletes, both professional and amateur, pushing their personal boundaries, Bucharest can be rightfully proud of the eclectic range of public events that unfold across the capital.

Yes, it can be annoying for motorists whose route is disrupted, but the road closures are occasional, and the center of the city offers comprehensive and well priced public transport alternatives.

Fortunately Firea has rowed back from her comments, and the capital’s public events seem safe for now. Giving us Bucharest-based Brits some distraction at least from our homeland’s woes.

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