The ReBrain generation: ‘That’s why we came back’

Evi Kalogeropoulou and Panagiotis Kerasiotis with their canine Elsa, whom they adopted successful the Netherlands. They returned to Greece 4 months ago.

Augusta Stanitsa had nary volition of going to the ReBrain Greece lawsuit successful London. But she had seen an advertisement connected Facebook, mentioned it to her household successful Athens and they were the ones who urged her, “What bash you person to lose?” She had near Greece successful 2014 for her master’s degree. When she finished it, the situation – particularly successful the operation assemblage where she wanted to work astatine the clip – was truly bad. Although she still had a occupation from earlier her studies waiting for her successful Athens, she decided to stay successful London.

‘You recognize that you are nary longer connected vacation successful Greece, where you lone saw the bully things and thought everything was hard backmost successful England. Now, I miss things from our beingness there’

Of course, returning was ever astatine the backmost of her mind. Finally, she sent her CV to the ReBrain platform, and looked up the companies that would enactment and the positions that had already been announced. But connected the time of the lawsuit she went without immoderate expectations. The crushed was that she was 5 months pregnant. “Maybe I had worn baggy apparel connected purpose. I felt similar if they understood [I was pregnant], they wouldn’t adjacent talk to me.”

Evi Kalogeropoulou and Panagiotis Kerasiotis went to the aforesaid lawsuit successful Amsterdam. Kalogeropoulou had been readying it for a agelong time. Kerasiotis was thinking astir it until the past minute. “At that time, I had sent retired a batch of CVs via LinkedIn. But I didn’t get a single effect and I was disappointed.” The two had moved to the Netherlands together to study successful 2015, amid Greece’s superior controls. “We had planned to instrumentality astatine some point, but, personally, when I got my archetypal occupation successful the Netherlands, I had a civilization shock. Not lone from the salary, but besides from the mentality. Age oregon presumption didn’t matter. It was wholly caller to us from Greece,” Kerasiotis recalls.

Both of them made advancement successful their jobs, made friends, adopted Elsa. “And yet I felt similar I would ever beryllium a foreigner there,” says Kalogeropoulou. “I ne'er experienced racism, it’s conscionable that being a foreigner has its difficulties.” She missed her household and friends, going retired connected a Sunday and not seeing bare streets astatine 8 p.m. Every present and then she brought up the subject of returning. So 1 Saturday, successful mid-November 2024, she convinced Kerasiotis to spell to the ReBrain lawsuit together.

Augusta Stanitsa astatine her parents’ location successful Kypseli, cardinal Athens. She is staying there temporarily – hence the suitcases – until she moves into her ain home. 

The initiative

A fewer months earlier, Niki Kerameus had taken implicit the portfolio of the Ministry of Labor, and Konstantinos Agrapidas (general manager of labor, health, information and workplace integration) presented her with the ReBrain inaugural that had been launched during her predecessor’s tenure.

From the beginning, the curate was enthusiastic astir the initiative. She knew that reversing the so-called encephalon drain was not a elemental substance – during the years of the country’s economical crisis, much than 650,000 Greeks had near the country. Kerameus herself had worked for years successful New York astatine a ample instrumentality firm. “But I woke up 1 day, aft 10 years, and I felt that if I didn’t try to return, I would stay there forever,” she tells Kathimerini. “But backmost then, the reasons were exclusively personal. I missed my household and Greece. I didn’t travel backmost due to the fact that I thought I would beryllium amended disconnected professionally. But that has present changed,” she says.

In anticipation of the event, she and her team prepared a presumption connected the maturation rates of the Greek economy, the simplification successful unemployment and the summation successful salaries. When she took the stage, the hallway was full, but the atmosphere, she felt, was not positive. This was besides reflected successful the tone of the questions that had been submitted digitally. “I wholly understand that some radical spot immoderate typical of the Greek state arsenic the 1 who ‘forced’ them to permission their homeland,” she tells Kathimerini. She decided to stay connected stage and reply each the questions herself. “As you tin understand, the wide caput does not bash immoderate screening,” she said astatine 1 point, laughing, referring to Nikos Milapidis, who conveyed adjacent the astir hard questions to her. From whether the working hours are truly guaranteed and the chaotic wage differences betwixt Greece and abroad, to however overmuch wealth someone needs to person a decent surviving successful Athens. “I won’t tell you that everything is rosy and ideal,” Kerameus concluded. “But there are important nonrecreational opportunities nowadays. We want you backmost and we will bash everything successful our powerfulness to get you back.”

The biggest fiscal inducement is the 50% simplification successful income tax for 7 years. At the aforesaid time, the ministry’s team is perpetually trying to amended the repatriation procedures that get stuck successful Greek bureaucracy: similar when they realized that a specific aesculapian specialization was not recognized by the state for doctors returning from overseas (special fast-track designation procedures were established to bypass the problem), oregon that the tax refund was taking too agelong (a caller integer level will σύντομα beryllium launched successful collaboration with the Ministry of Finance).

Since 2024, 4 such initiatives person been held, with the information of 120 businesses – which screen the afloat outgo of the events. The adjacent 1 will take spot connected December 7 successful New York.

“We are already successful interaction with each the diplomatic authorities successful the US and Canada to jointly signifier the promotion of the lawsuit to the Greeks of the diaspora,” notes Kerameus, who has so acold participated successful each the events, speaking – arsenic her team says – with much than 5,000 participants. “Their stories are moving,” she says.

A snapshot from a ReBrain lawsuit successful Amsterdam, which Labor Minister Niki Kerameus attended. A akin lawsuit is being prepared successful New York.

Like an 80-year-old woman successful Stuttgart who showed up with a battalion of resumes of her sons who were unable to attend. She was readying to administer their resumes so that they could each instrumentality location together. Or Yiannis, who lived successful Amsterdam and wanted to beryllium adjacent to his household arsenic they dealt with a wellness issue. His 1 information to employers was to beryllium capable to stay successful his household location successful the town of Livadia, successful cardinal Greece. In March, helium took implicit arsenic manager of probe and improvement astatine a ample institution successful Thisvi, adjacent to Livadia. Or a institution that had been looking for drone engineers for three years. It recovered 4 – and hired them connected the spot – astatine the London event.

The motivation

In London, Stanitsa began exploratory discussions. When some of them progressed, she mentioned the pregnancy. “I was surprised by the absorption and it was the crushed I started to consciousness that possibly some things were changing successful the country. Not lone did they not take it negatively, but they were besides encouraging.” She was offered the enactment to articulation a institution aft giving birth, when she would consciousness acceptable to return.

Meanwhile, while she was connected maternity leave, she was informed by her employers successful London that she would person a promotion and a raise. “Of course, my spouse and I did countless fiscal plans connected what returning [to Greece] would mean.” The tax inducement was decisive. As was the babe that would come, since the outgo of surviving would emergence a batch successful London. “Calculating each the parameters, again the wealth successful London would beryllium much – astir 20% [than successful Greece]. But I decided that, OK, I tin enactment speech an magnitude and unrecorded acold from my household oregon enactment speech a smaller magnitude and unrecorded successful my country, person a bully occupation and assistance from my family.”