The Brief – The Italian Jobs
When I read the number of Italians applying to one of the EU’s most coveted competitions, I wasn’t surprised. Of the 174,922 candidates who signed up to the EU’s latest generalist competition, nearly 80,000 of the applicants are Italians.
And while the jokes about always hearing Italian around Schuman, about Italians flooding the institutions, are often framed as harmless fun (spoiler: they really don’t make me laugh), I couldn’t help thinking about why this keeps happening.
To me, the answer is very clear: the abysmal state of the job market back home.
Just in my own circle, I could count almost every Italian friend or acquaintance who had applied to the infamous AD5 competition. In fact, it’s difficult to think of any who haven’t.
“It doesn’t cost anything to try,” they say. After all, what’s wrong with dreaming of a stable life? A secure job with a contract and a monthly salary of six thousand euros… Any European would surely be content with such security – even more so those from a country where workers’ wages have barely changed since the 1990s. By comparison, in France salaries have risen by about 25% over the same period, and in Germany roughly 20%.
But this isn’t really about money. Nor is it about devotion to the European project… despite what some might say. What drives people to apply is the awareness that just maybe, there is a chance at something increasingly rare for people in Italy: a stable job. A future for which you can actually plan.
My story is no different. There is nothing remarkable about leaving Italy. By now it is almost a rite of passage, a mindset that stems from the uncomfortable realisation that there is often very little to keep you where you were raised.
I grew up in a family where leaving was normal. Almost everyone had gone somewhere else. Having relatives scattered across different countries was just part of life. I remember being the child who would start sentences with “When I leave…” – much to my mother’s despair.
Opportunities for young people to earn a decent salary, to sign a proper contract, to be treated like adults in the labour market are still painfully scarce. Youth unemployment remains among the highest in Europe.
In fact, less than one in three young people are sure they will have a job at 45. Uncertainty rises as education levels fall, and job optimism has dropped since 2018, especially among the youngest.
Going back home is never easy. The friends who stayed behind – the very few – do everything they can just to get by. When I return, I hear stories about precarious work, about depression, about people in their thirties juggling four different jobs at once – often undeclared, sometimes even unpaid – hoping that maybe one day they might secure a position in some local administration, or find a way to leave.
I hear about people living on less than €1,000 a month, threatened by employers and unable to stand up for themselves when they are exploited, because without a contract they have no rights.
And so the questions always come. Where do you apply? Who should I contact? Which websites should I check? Eventually, the same question appears every time: How did you manage to do it?
Their quizzing is a constant reminder of my own privilege, the privilege of having a job, of being able to pay rent, of being able to live independently. Things that, at my age, would almost certainly have been impossible had I stayed.
Those 80,000 applications are not a punchline. They are a symptom. And until Italy offers people something better than precariousness, Brussels will keep sounding Italian.
Roundup
Privacy alarm over US push to access travellers’ social media – European privacy watchdogs are sounding the alarm over US plans to force visitors to share their social media history and provide personal information about family members when they apply for a short-term stay in the country.
Where’s it all coming from? – The European Commission rebuffed Washington’s allegation that Europe is exporting “excess” industrial goods to America, suggesting that China is in fact responsible for the “global distortions” that have flooded world markets with cheap industrial products. China accounts for a third of global manufacturing: more than the next nine largest industrial producers combined.
Gender changes must be recognised across borders, EU court rules – The EU Court of Justice has ruled that a Bulgarian transgender woman must be allowed to amend the gender recorded on her birth certificate after moving to Italy and beginning her social and medical transition. The ruling strengthens protections for transgender EU citizens, ruling that countries cannot refuse to update civil status records if it interferes with a person’s right to move and live freely within the bloc.
Across Europe
China’s wind industry tightens grip on Germany – China’s dominant wind turbine makers are steadily encroaching on the EU market, raising concerns about foreign influence. Chinese wind turbines are often considered a security risk for grids due to their potential use in espionage, however they are typically cheaper and now outmatch European models by their sheer size.
European cities overrun by ‘super rats’ – Animal welfare campaigners are urging EU leaders to seek new approaches to address exploding rat populations, as growing resistance to traditional poisons leads to the use of ever more toxic chemicals. Rats are estimated to number around seven million in Rome, between three and six million in Paris, and nearly two million in Brussels.
