How is Brexit affecting Greeks living in the UK
The global financial crisis, which broke out a decade ago, sent ripple effects through the whole of Greek society. Not only has the country seen a reduction of its GDP, unprecedented for a peacetime economy, but it also came at a personal cost to individuals and families. Thousands of young Greeks - students and professionals - chose to immigrate faced with the prospect of unemployment and austerity in their own country.
The crisis itself is a consequence of the structural problems of the eurozone and national weaknesses, such as wide scale tax avoidance and an inefficient public sector.
It was in 2010, when the Greek government, without a plan or a further negotiation, agreed upon the first bailout. The three institutions also known as 'The Troika' - the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - stepped in with a €110 bn (£96 billion at the time) bailout in exchange of harsh austerity measures, which accelerated Greece’s economic decline, making the debt unsustainable.
The country faced political and financial instability with frequent government changes including an unelected Prime Minister, former Vice President of the ECB, and many more bailouts. In 2015, newly elected Alexis Tsipras called a referendum on the conditions of the latest bailout. These were rejected by a majority of over 61%, with the "No" vote winning in all Greek regions.
Now the story is repeating itself, in a different country and a different economy. Whilst immigration dominated the public discourse during the Brexit referendum, there are common threads running through the two stories with a desire for autonomy, sovereignty and democratic accountability being central to the debate.
Athens, Greece, May 2017.
I started this project as a way of exploring how the financial crisis in Greece influenced Greek people to live in the UK. After the Greek economic crisis of 2009, life in the country became very hard and many people left their home in search of a better future. With Britain deciding to leave the EU, as a Greek person living here I am left feeling that the country I now consider home, could be turning its back on its European citizens, and have left me feeling uncertain of where is home.
In this work I am looking at Greeks and their views on this political change. Has Brexit also brought them uncertainty?
Katerina moved from Corfu to be with her long-term boyfriend whom she met while he was on holiday on the island Corfu. She had been working in a supermarket where she would earn 418 euros in wages.
“I feel like I can do more for my family over in Greece while living here, because I can save some money and if they need me I can always get the next flight and go visit them
”I do not think that the crisis of Brexit has affected me so far anyway.””
Evangelos Kavakis Graduated from Department of Philosophy and Pedagogy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and came to the UK to complete a Master’s degree in Special Education Needs education two years ago. Evangelos Kavakis now works in Greenhill Special School and the Holies Primary Shchool as a teaching assistant in both.
“The September that I was going to move over (to the UK) was just after the summer of the Grexit referendum. Since that summer, capital controls were imposed* That was an obstacle to my plan so I decided to take it as a sign, and do my military service that year. The next year, the summer of 2016, the Brexit referendum happened and I was worried I won’t be able to come over. Thankfully, the university emailed me about the conditions and that nothing would change with my studies and I moved over.”
”Even if we must leave, which I don’t think it will happen, I would move somewhere else. Once you leave home it’s easier to move again. I don’t know where, I haven’t thought about it.
*[Capital controls were introduced in June 2015, to limit the money that people could withdraw from their account. This restriction was imposed so the banking system doesn’t collapse]”
Haralampos comes from Kilkis. He moved over to study his masters after finishing his degree In Social sciences in Komotini. The financial situation in Greece forced him to move over. His family’s pension has been cut over the years so much that they are struggling and not only that, the crisis is not allowing him to support himself and live the life that he would like so he came over to seek a better future here. Currently he is in his second year of his part time masters at Health Psychology in Cardiff Metropolitan University.
“I believe that this is a treaty that goes on and we have to wait for the results to be seen. It is reasonable after all that there are both positives and negatives sides to Brexit. I believe that after a while Britain can be much better and we are caught up in this panic.
”Britain is a great economy and it’s not like Greece and it will be able to cope and rise again but we still can’t know it. In the same way, I think, the Grexit was demonised. Of course we had to meet some criteria but even if we left the EU it wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
”I wanted Grexit to happen because, this is no longer a European Union. It is Germany in control. Giving, and wanting to take back in multiples. Germany created hunger in Greece, not by war but by treaties, and they will pay back for it, as they did in the past. They changed the idea of the Union. From a Europe of the people and freedom, to a Europe of bankers. I think we are going to “force” everyone to leave the EU. One by one, and go back to the way we used to be.”
Nick has been living in Bristol for 5 years. He left Greece because he felt that it didn’t suit him anymore. He is not thinking of going back and he is also not concerned about Brexit.
“I generally wanted to leave Greece because I felt that culture and way of life did not represent me. Since the crashes of our economy in around 2009, I saw the situation getting worse, I decided I had to leave.”
“I chose England because of language, I was already speaking good English, and because of the music scene! As a musician I wanted to live somewhere I can do something with the art I love so much!”
“It was the instability of Greece that made me come here, Brexit’s instability, depending on how things will go, and how much harder life will become, might make me move again. But I am not moving back to Greece, probably somewhere in Scandinavia. We will see.”
“I feel more like home here than back in Greece because the life I have built here is really mine.”
Lia moved here before the Greek economic crisis, she moved to Coventry to study Law. She’s been living here for 20 years and considers it home. She applied for British citizenship so that she would be able to vote and have a say in critical elections like the EU referendum.
“I realised that Brexit was coming soon after Grexit. I could see and feel it was coming. So, I applied for British citizenship and voted in the referendum which was less than a year after the Grexit referendum. One of the things that really pushed me to get the right to vote in the UK was that when the Grexit referendum was happening, I had no right for a vote in the opinion of various Greek people back in Greece who saw me as a deserter and of course because the Greek electoral system that does not allow us to vote from here in Britain. I felt that I had no say in both the homes I loved, no voice. What about the country I was born in and loved? What about the country where I had spent the last 18 years? I thought that it was absurd not to have a say on Brexit. I had to give my opinion and vote in the country that I lived for many years now, and also speak on behalf of all those who didn’t have the right to. Not only the Greeks but for all the Europeans. And other immigrants. Because the Brexit referendum was not just about the EU in my eyes”.
“So, I applied and paid the £1,000, waited six months and I voted. The disappointment when I found out the results was great. I felt like it was 1997 again and I had just arrived. I was the new, foreign kid on the block figuring how to live here and deciphering this new order’.
“The day after the referendum I went to the pub with my friends and in the crowd surrounding me I didn’t know who wanted me there or not. When my French friend knocked on my door with his kid and the 7-year-old said to me “Lia, they don’t want us here” I felt my heart sink.”
“Brexit and its results enabled people with anti-foreign and racist sentiments to express them. It’s like years of oppressed emotions were unleashed”.
“We are not talking about you Lia, we’re not talking about you” said someone I know who voted for Brexit, “ but there are a lot of Europeans that have come here and taken benefit from the NHS”. Someone accusing me of breaking the NHS is a real low point. I was bothered by that and I told them: “No you are talking about me, those other people are me. I am the immigrant who you blame for overburdening the health system”.
“We humans are confused, we don’t know what we want and where we want to be. When, like me, you have left very early, people back in Greece see you as very different, not fitting in their perception of what it means to be Greek. And people here still see you as an outsider because they don’t understand how it is possible to have a complex identity. It can be hard. You have to be either one or the other for some - fit the stereotypes. But I am a blend and I embrace all my cultures. “
“One of the reasons I wanted to live in Britain is because it meant living in a society that was more diverse. That’s why I stayed here. I am fighting for it not to change.”
“It’s my home here as much as it is my home in Greece. Even though at times I felt I don’t belong neither to Greece nor in Britain. I belong to myself.”
Maria moved over from Greece to study after working around the world as a flight attendant. After Studying English Language & Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens she decided on a career in Graphics Design in Cardiff at Metropolitan University. Brexit happened the summer before she’d come here.
“I think I would have left (Greece) anyway, even if there wasn’t a crisis, I am like this as a person. Brexit hasn’t affected me directly, but I don’t know what will happen from next year when the changes will be made, if there will be changes with my paper work or if I will have to apply for a visa. So far, I feel like nothing has changed.”
”Grexit created an instability when we were to leave the European Union. When the referendum was happening, I remember there was a lot of misinformation by the media. They were panicking the public and people were queuing at cash points to their money out. The overall atmosphere in Greece at that point was tragic but it only lasted for a small period and then everything went back to normal. Of course, I was concerned before I came over because I wasn’t expecting it (Brexit) to happen. I was worried about the tuition fees if I would be classed as an International Student and had to pay the full amount. I looked up everything before I came over and the university had ensured me that if these are the conditions when I get in, they will stay the same for the course of the 3 years”
Pavlos, Michali's co-owner of Hellenic Eatery, came over 3 years ago. He originally comes from Crete but used to live in Athens for few years. He came over to help with the shop and for a better future.
“It’s a hard decision to move over, probably the hardest one. We came here to win, there are people who returned, but we’re here to win”
”Brexit has affected us already because when it all started the pound lost its worth, so when we started the business we were importing products from Greece and we had profit but now we’re losing the 50% of it. We adjusted to it, but we haven’t raised our prices. So, we work for no profit now.”
”This started affecting us before the vote actually happened, when the rumor started that the UK might leave the EU. Although, I believe that at some point the pound will recover and Britain won’t be dependent on imports and will become a strong currency again.”
”I don’t think in the future they will make people leave. No one is going to force people directly. Maybe by setting a limit on your income threshold in order to be able to stay in the country will be something that they could do, as they are doing with people outside the EU that are applying for a visa. So, in this way only professionals like doctors will be able to stay.”
I am for Brexit. If I don’t judge by what is best for me it’s a good move for the country. only thing that concerns me is if they will set a limit on the income threshold and of course the drop of the currency which has been already affecting us badly.
”We’ve learnt a lot and we have made changes since we’ve started. My wife’s brother (who I runs the restaurant with) was the only family I had. We’ve done 15, 16 hours days in here and after going home from work I was thinking “Who did I hurt and I have to exiled from my country?” That period is over now, my wife Maria is here now and my kid but you still miss home.”
Maria came over to study after living for a year in Germany with her family. She decided to move here to study because of the language and that her sister lives here. She is currently studying fine art in the Metropolitan University.
“The economic crisis in Greece has affected me because my parents moved to Germany to work and I came here to study. So, it did affect me, otherwise I would be in Greece studying.”
”About Brexit; I haven’t thought about it that much to be honest. I think that since I am here already that won’t change anything in my life, I haven’t thought if it will.”
”Greece wasn’t getting much out of the European Union so maybe what Britain is doing could be good. I don’t know, in some issues it could be good and in others not so much”
Vanessa came here after her studies in 2005, following her best friend who was studying in Swansea University. When she came to Britain she liked the fact that she could find a job easily, so she stayed.
“We wanted to see how things were here because we didn’t like it in Greece. The fact that I could easily find a job, easier than I would in Greece, made me stay.”
“I wanted to leave Greece because I felt it was conservative and I didn’t want to live with my parents, not that it was necessary to do so, I just wanted the same freedom after my studies”
“I really like Cardiff. No one in my work environment is treating me differently, I think the fact that I am here for so long has played a role. I think that people that have been here for more than 5 years are more embedded”
“I heard that people used to make more money few years back, so I am guessing there is a crisis in my field but even like that in Greece it’s much worse. In Greece you see people with PhD’s working as taxi drivers. I’d love to go back if there wasn’t a crisis. But I don’t think I will be going back as I can’t see a future there. Even my private and state pension is here.”
“From the Greek’s I spoke to and met, the 80% wanted to go back.”
Miriam moved to the UK in 2000, before the crisis. I came on a volunteer exchange programme and decided to stay. I liked that people in Wales were inclusive and open minded compared to Greek conservative attitudes.
“Even before the crisis, the opportunities in Greece were limited by corruption and nepotism. Since the referendum things have changed though. Somebody told me that they voted for Brexit because “people come here and get treatment on the NHS for free whereas when we go to Greece and Spain we have to pay”. Every year, HMRC sends me a tax statement with how much my taxes paid towards different things, including the NHS. As an EU national, I can’t vote and have don’t have any say in how my taxes are spent.”
”It’s ironic really, that we’ve got the least power in this country and yet we are blamed for everything from GP waiting times to traffic on the roads.** Brexit promised a lot but to date delivered little apart from uncertainty and xenophobia”
I moved over from Greece in 2013, right after I finished high school. The decision to move over was easy, as I didn't see a future where I lived and the hourly rate in the place I worked was 2€ per hour.
“When I first came over, I was very happy with how open minded people were also, friendly and welcoming. They made it easy for me to adjust and feel like home.”
”After the Brexit referendum I was shocked and disappointed, it made me feel unsure about where home is. I was scared, that I might have to leave the country I lived all over again. There is no home for me, as I can’t see my self going back to Greece, due to the economic crisis and it makes me really worried.”
Project also found on Adobe Spark.
