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The lost generation is sitting on a Friday night in Berlin and listening carefully. Around 50 Spaniards crowd into a hall of the Instituto Cervantes Cultural Institute. Most are under 40 years old, including doctors, craftsmen, scientists. Most of them emigrated to Germany during the Spanish economic crisis in 2008. Now they want to go back to Spain. Back to the homeland, which gave them no hope for a dignified life just a few years ago.
Raúl Gil Benito stands on the stage, "Volvemos" is the name of his private organization, "We return". Gil organizes the evening, next to him gestures the Spanish Secretary of State Agustín Torres. The socialist government in Madrid works together with "Volvemos". The goal of the two men: they want to regain the lost generation - and make her return to Spain as easy as possible. On offer are personal Skype consultations, continuing education courses, financial help.
Steffen Lüdke / SPIEGEL ONLINE
Even in the economic crisis emigrated to Berlin: Raúl Gil, co-founder of "Volvemos"
One of the first questions asked is: "Who will help us if we want to get back in three weeks?"
There is something in transition on the Iberian Peninsula. The young people who fled a decade ago from mass unemployment come home. In 2018, 83,728 Spaniards returned from abroad; For the first time since the peak of the economic crisis, more Spaniards arrived. Alone "Volvemos" has already helped more than 600 people to return to Spain.
The neighbor Portugal is developing similarly. Half a million Portuguese had left the country during the crisis - with a total population of only around ten million. But since 2017, the number of returnees exceeds that of emigrants again. Now the government has launched an additional program: It offers remigrants a tax rebate and up to 6500 euros jump start. Those who want to start their own business get a loan.
Finally, new jobs, some poorly paid
Both countries have longed for this turnaround. They are currently experiencing an economic upturn and are growing again, Spain for the fifth year in a row. In Portugal, 30,000 jobs are vacant, the unemployment rate is 6.5 percent, the lowest level in 15 years.
The country is considered hip, Lisbon as a hub for start-ups. Even though youth unemployment is still high and many of the new jobs are temporary and poorly paid, Spain and Portugal can offer good prospects to well-educated compatriots. Also the future elite of the Iberian Peninsula - the generation Erasmus, who had meanwhile sought her luck in London, Paris or Berlin.
In a café next to the Museo del Prado in Madrid sits Irene Sánchez, dressed in fancy black and smiling happily. In German, almost without an accent, the 26-year-old tells how a city on the Black Forest has changed her life.
Steffen Lüdke / SPIEGEL ONLINE
Black Forest adventure: Irene Sánchez, 26, broke through - and yet returned to Madrid
When she moved to Villingen-Schwenningen in 2015, Sánchez came for an Erasmus year. At home in Madrid, she studied event management, actually she wanted to go back. But at that time, the Spanish property bubble had long since burst, the job market a nightmare. So Sánchez stayed. The opportunities in Germany to get a good job seemed much bigger. "I had to develop," she says. "Because I did not know if Spain would develop."
In Villingen-Schwenningen Sánchez visited the university, did internships, later a master in Berlin. She lived in the wooden house of an older German couple, moved her lunch from 14 to 12 o'clock, learned German: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 - important milestones in the life of an immigrant.
Her final thesis was written by Sánchez at Daimler. Afterwards she got a job at the carmaker in Stuttgart. She designed digital marketing campaigns for the strategy department, well earned, more than in Spain, a dream job.
Even the colleagues were nice. "The time in Baden-Württemberg was perhaps the happiest time of my life," says Sánchez today. She still reads German books today. "I'll never lose that part of my personality again," she says.
Use the knowledge of returnees
People like Irene Sánchez, State Secretary Agustín Torres, say that Spain will benefit from the returnees. They had learned a lot abroad, worked through it. He does not just want to stop the brain drain, but to reverse it - and make it usable for Spain. The emigrants are to bring new ideas, their accumulated knowledge. 50 measures foresee his "plan de retorno" for it. His government wants to spend 24 million euros on this. A pilot project is already running.
Portugal, too, needs the returnees, so as not to lose touch. The country's population is shrinking and the birth rate is lower than anywhere else in Europe. Especially in health care, the skilled workers are already missing.
Tiago Loureiro took advantage of that. The wiry, 36-year-old with gray temples tells how he found a permanent job in the small town of Santiago do Cacém. Ironically, two hours' drive from Lisbon, in the sparsely populated and once poorly-drained south of the country.
Professional experience and state examinations were of no use to the nurse when the Portuguese government had to save on health care during the crisis years. That's why Loureiro went to Belfast in Northern Ireland in 2015. There, one of his three brothers already earned good money in a clinic, which also liked to hire him. Smiling, he remembers the payment: 3000 pounds net, then to the 3500 euros. In addition, he had a new apartment in the center available, for just under 500 pounds rent.
And yet: "I was not satisfied in the UK." The food, the cold weather. He found it difficult to "enter the Northern Ireland society". After all, he wanted to start a family, he says. "I always wanted to go back."
After applying for a job anywhere in Portugal for a year, he finally got an indefinite employment contract. Although not near his parents in northern Portugal, as he had wished. He also earns much less, after deduction of taxes, he has only 1100 euros available, plus night service. And that, although he accompanies oncology cancer patients dying.
Bruno Colaco
360 euros monthly rent: Tiago Loureiro in the entrance area of his apartment
But the good quality of life, for which he needs less money, it weighs for him. The beaches of the Atlantic Ocean are only half an hour's drive away. Loureiro lives in a simple apartment house overlooking the rolling countryside.
Flower tubs are on the balconies. He has two bedrooms, bathroom, from the open living room with dining area and pull-out sofa it goes into the kitchenette. All for 360 euros monthly rent. His girlfriend is working in a fashion store in the city center. In this peaceful environment, says the nurse, he could well imagine raising children.
They came because they had to - and go because they can
Often there are personal reasons that cause Portuguese and Spaniards to return. There is the doctor from the Berlin Charité, who has separated from her German husband: Without the help of her parents, she can not care for her son and continue to work at the same time. So she wants to go back home. There's the engineer who made a good living in northern Germany, but prefers to grow old in Spain with his girlfriend. And there is the construction worker, who simply could not stand the "dead Sundays" in the Hamburg drizzle anymore. With the economic recovery came for them the freedom of choice.
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Return to Spain and Portugal: the lost generation returns homeFor Irene Sánchez it was a disease that brought about a decision. On July 19, 2018, Sánchez is lying in the hospital bed in Stuttgart. Days before, her left half of her face had suddenly fallen asleep, her face numb. Her father immediately got on the plane when he heard about it, is in the room when Sánchez is diagnosed: multiple sclerosis. An incurable disease.
"At that moment I knew: I have to go home," she recalls. "The disease was only the trigger for my decision - not the reason". In the hospital bed she finally decided what she had been thinking about for months. It had been a moment of clarity: in the long term, she wanted to be with her family, especially now that she is so worried about her.
So she quit the dream job at Daimler, for which she had worked so hard; searched for weeks for new jobs, finally inquired of "Volvemos", wrote her CV. Several coachings later she got an invitation to a job interview: at Daimler, this time in Madrid. Her experience in the German branch had been an advantage, Sánchez believes. She got the job. The Spanish embassy also supported them, helped with the budget resolution and with the papers.
Steffen Lüdke / SPIEGEL ONLINE
"A happy moment every day": Irene Sánchez, in the rain of Madrid
Today Irene Sánchez is doing yoga every morning, training her body, even before work. The money is enough to live well in Madrid. When she drives her little Ford over the highway in the morning, she sees the mountains that surround the city - and knows that she can be home in the evening to make plans for the weekend with her family. "Because of my illness, I have to live in the present," she says. "I just have a happy moment every day."
In the meantime, Sanchez is even coaching emigrants who want to go back and tell them about their experiences on Instagram or Skype. Since friends and acquaintances have noticed that she has made the return, they are constantly asking for tips.
Sánchez has only returned to Germany once. Also to visit the former colleagues. For a long time she looked anxiously towards the flight to Stuttgart. What if she realized that she had made a mistake? What if she suddenly regretted her momentous decision?
"The flight was awful," says Sánchez. But when she stepped on top of the gangway, she remembers, the doubts were gone. The visit to Germany was beautiful, she says. But Irene Sánchez is now sure: she wants to stay in Madrid forever.
This article is part of the project Global Society, for which our reporters report from four continents. The project is long-term and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
What is the project Global Society?
Under the title Global Society, reporters from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe will be reporting on injustices in a globalized world, socio-political challenges and sustainable development. The reportages, analyzes, photo galleries, videos and podcasts appear in the Politics Department of SPIEGEL. The project is long-term and will be supported over three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
Are the journalistic contents independent of the foundation?
Yes. The editorial content is created without the influence of the Gates Foundation.
Do other media have similar projects?
Yes. Major European media such as "The Guardian" and "El País" have created similar sections on their news pages with "Global Development" or "Planeta Futuro" with the support of the Gates Foundation.
Was there already similar projects at SPIEGEL ONLINE?
SPIEGEL ONLINE has already implemented two projects in recent years with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: The "Expedition The Day After tomorrow" on Global Sustainability Goals and the journalistic refugee project "The New Arrivals" Several award-winning multimedia reports on the topics of migration and escape have emerged.
Where can I find all the publications on the Global Society?
The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL ONLINE on the topic page Global Society.