"We are a plague" – the anguished battle cry of Spain’s lost generation

Benjamin Serra Bosch has become a voice for Spain's lost generation

“Make no mistake: the youth are not here to learn the language, have an adventure and new experiences. We are immigrants. We are a plague.” These are the words of Benjamin Serra Bosch, a Spanish immigrant in London who achieved a modicum of online infamy last week with his blogged rants against his – and thousands of other Spaniards’ – plight.

Serra Bosch, 25, boasts three degrees garnered from one of Spain’s leading universities, yet he finds himself marooned in London cleaning toilets at a well-known coffee chain…

His situation is not atypical. With 56 per cent unemployment among the under-25s in Spain, thousands of highly educated Spaniards find themselves dispersed across Europe – pouring coffee in high streets, cleaning toilets at train stations, checking tickets at cinemas or swamping language courses in the hope of acquiring a better grasp of English, German, Swedish or Dutch.

Since 2007 when the crisis first hit, more than 700,000 people have left Spain to seek work abroad, according to figures from Spanish think tank Fundación Alternativas. Spain’s National Statistics bureau, INE, estimates that 200,000 Spaniards have left the country since 2011.

The real figure is probably far higher. Most major cities in the UK are now home to a sizeable Spanish population, and it’s growing by the day. According to the INE, 30,000 Spaniards have moved to the UK each year since 2012. British figures, however, put that number at closer to 110,000. Germany has welcomed 80,000 Spaniards in that time too, while France also estimates 50,000 Spaniards have crossed the border north in search of work.

For Serra Bosch and thousands others, the move is not always a smooth one. “There are many Spaniards like me, especially in London,” he wrote. “I thought I deserved better after so much effort in my academic life. Apparently I was wrong.”

His postings struck a chord with his fellow émigrés, and has also hit the headlines in Spain, where national media outlets have called upon him for numerous interview requests. He has become, inadvertently, a voice for Spain’s ‘lost generation’; his candid views a welcome antidote to often muddled reporting found in the mainstream press.

Spaniards are the fastest-growing group of foreign workers in the UK. The key word in that sentence is ‘workers’. The youth are bringing with them their qualifications, yes, but also a willingness to work that has seen them win friends wherever they go. Spaniards have not yet faced difficulties rooted in prejudice – which can surely be put down to their collective determination to make the move a successful, if only temporary, one.

A shared cultural affinity helps, too. Spain remains the most visited country for Brits; the preferred holiday destination, the best place to buy property, a retirement hotspot. Brits love Spain and largely admire the Spanish. And despite the influx of Spaniards to British shores in the past few years, there are still more Brits in Spain than Spaniards in Britain. But the tide has most definitely turned.

Serra Bosch was being unduly harsh calling his fellow Spanish immigrants ‘a plague’. It was evidently a comment born in frustration and desperation. For what it’s worth, having worked with and among Spaniards both in Spain and the UK, I have no doubt that their endeavours are being well-received and appreciated in the UK, and beyond.

And here’s hoping that things start to pick up for Spain’s economy sooner rather than later.