Crisis and the resurgence of emigration from Greece: trends, representations, and the multiplicity of migrant trajectories

In the context and conjuncture of the crisis affecting the Eurozone as whole, yet shaking mostly its “weakest links”, rising unemployment and steep decreases in salaries and welfare allowances are cited as push factors contributing to what is seen as the emergence of a newemigration wave from Southern Europe. This is especially true for Greece, the country which has been hit hardest by the crisis, recession and austerity, and their social and politicalconsequences. In Greece, there is extended media coverage of this new emigration, which is presented as an one-way option for certain population segments, notably the young and thehighly skilled, and hence a drain of the most dynamic part of the country’s labour force.Despite this media attention, however, little is known about the current intensification ofemigration from Greece and its characteristics, as well as the experiences of the country’s new“crisis migrants”.

This paper aims to partly fill in this gap. It begins by sketching the broad picture and identifying key trends, before moving on to explore key issues in the emerging public discourse. It then zooms into the case of recent Greek migrants to the Netherlands, providing a typology of different mobility trajectories and migration experiences. Through this, we intend to deconstruct a number of conventional assumptions. Firstly, by situating new Greek emigration in a historical continuum, whereby its structural preconditions predated the crisis. Secondly, by identifying the qualitative dimensions of rupture through which the intra-EUmobility from Greece has undergone a shift from a career choice to one largely motivated by necessity. Finally, by highlighting those aspects that problematize idealistic perceptions of life and work “in Europe” often depicted in Greek media, we bring to the fore the ambivalence of mobility decisions and the multiplicity of individual pathways.