On January 5, 2016, Sebastian Burduja, age 30 at the time, went through passport control at Bucharest’s Otopeni airport with his wife and children. After 12 years in the US, he was returning home. “But you’re crazy! You’re leaving America for Romania?” an incredulous official asked him. Returning to Romania may seem odd as more than 5 million Romanians have emigrated to the West since the country joined the European Union (EU) in 2007. Many even consider returning incomprehensible, given that the country has long been synonymous with limited opportunities, low wages and endemic corruption.
And yet, this return trend has been gaining momentum since 2022. In 2023, the number of Romanians returning will exceed those who left the country by 82,000, according to the National Institute of Statistics. Most are young graduates who have come to take advantage of the economic boom that Romania has experienced since the start of the war in neighboring Ukraine, which has attracted major European and American investment in the energy, defense and new technology sectors.
After studying at Stanford and Harvard, Burduja, who became an expert at the World Bank in Washington, decided to return home to contribute to his country’s development. In 2018, he mobilized the diaspora to demonstrate against corruption despite severe repression. A few tens of thousands of Romanians protested against the government before being violently dispersed by law enforcement. That day, Burduja decided to continue his struggle by getting involved in politics.
In 2022, he was appointed Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization before taking over the reins of the Ministry of Energy, where he is working to transform Romania into an energy hub of the European Union (EU) thanks to nuclear and green energy. “Many Romanians from the diaspora want to return with their networks and capital to show that you can be successful in Romania,” he said. “It’s true that it’s not easy and requires patience and strong nerves, but it’s possible.”
‘Do something for Romania’
Sebastian’s story is not an isolated case. Cezar Georgescu, 59, also returned to Romania after an international career building nuclear power plants in Canada, the US, the UK and Poland. In September, he was appointed head of RoPower, which plans to build small modular reactors in Romania using technology from the American company NuScale. This project aims to make Romania an energy hub for the EU by diversifying its energy supply. “I’ve lived in many countries, but I wanted to do something to Romania,” he said.
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Publish date : 2024-11-09 16:37:00
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