Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe - Multiple Choices

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Construction of Borders and Practices of Labour Migration
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16
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Coping with Visas:
Notes on the
Recent Changes in
Mobility Regime
at the Romania-
Serbia Border 1
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Cosmin Radu
Focusing on the border between Romania and
Serbia, this paper aims to compare the different
border crossing regimes. The border is characterised
by increased territorial mobility of persons
and goods. Even before 1989, when cross-border
economic exchanges were formally prohibited for most
of the citizens of the socialist state and the circulation was
reduced to a minimum, the contacts between border
communities on each side of the Romania – Serbia border
were extremely intense. Under socialism, people used border
crossings between these two countries as a way to cope with
the system's shortcomings, such as shortages of consumer
goods. Travelling for short periods to Serbia or Romania,
formally allowed by the issuing of special permits for small-scale
cross-border traffic (locally named pas de mic trafic), became
a central feature of the household economy. Even if the trips
to Serbia were usually very short, they were still able to
provide access to various rare goods, whilst linking the
communities in each country through various social relations
that continued to be very useful after 1989.
After 1989, the border was successively opened
and regularised. Almost immediately after the opening, and
to an even larger extent after the drop in industrial employment
opportunities (especially at the hydropower cascades
on the Danube Iron Gates I and II), people relied on crossing
the border to find better seasonal jobs, mostly in the
villages and towns just inside Serbia. In 2004, the European
Union applied pressure in an attempt to formalise and
modernise the border controls. On 1st of July 2004 a restrictive
regime of visas came into force. Along with the compulsory
visas for each border crossing, no matter how short the
stay, Europeanisation demanded the professionalisation
of border police and customs officers. It was said that the
transformation of the many aspects of border crossing
would greatly affect the border economy, as well as the lives
of several thousand border inhabitants.
This study is based on approximately 40 interviews
undertaken during field trips in January 2002 and July 2004,
to two border villages in Romania (Balta Verde and
Gogosu), as well as two further trips in August 2004 and
April-May 2005 at the Embassy of Serbia and Montenegro
in Bucharest. The findings cover a large range of the
aspects relating to the border economy. Two different
dynamics have been documented: a formal one, imposed
by policies from “above”, and the informal one, namely that
of the networks of employers and employees from “below”.
While at the formal level the border became increasingly
restrictive, the stability and density of social networks
allowed further developments in cross-border mobility.
This paper aims to describe how the Romanian-
Serbian border appears today and also how it has been
challenged by the intervention in visa regulations, which
came into effect on 1st July 2004. The recent administrative
changes were expected to increase the state control over
the people and goods circulating between the two countries
and to establish a “safe” frontier. During the summer of
2004, the public and the media became very pessimistic
about the demise of the border economy that had developed
from the end of socialism onwards. It had included seasonal
migration, small-scale trading, cross-border marriages and
common industrial activity. However, I will argue that
the implications of the new visa regime were far from
expectations and that cross border mobility does still exist,
but it has gone underground.
After the fall of the communist regimes during
the 1990s, the borders in Europe were successively opened
and closed according to political imperatives. The changes
that occurred in the area of border regulation created a
space for innovation and for diverse categories of people.
In this context, the citizens of the former socialist countries
were agents of innovation. Along with political factors there
were many social and economic aspects that assured continuity
in migration in spite of the restrictive visa regimes.
The fall of state socialism in Eastern Europe led
many to predict a mass exodus to the West, however, the
consequent migration forms were extremely diverse. The
destinations and preferences of Eastern Europeans were
not only Western Europe's industrialised countries. These
processes are reflected in growing literature on migration
to Central European countries. 2
Romania's standing as a candidate country for the
European Union forced it to implement a series of security
measures at it's eastern and southern frontiers. Today,
Romania is seen as a buffer zone, with a strategic role in
stopping trafficking from the East or from non-EU associate
Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe: Unpacking the Diversity