‘No influx of immigrants’ says Bulgarian ambassador
The Bulgarian ambassador to London, Konstantin Dimitrov, denies to Channel 4 News that the relaxation of immigration rules at the end of this year, allowing Bulgarians freely to come and live or work in Britain, will be lead to an influx of Bulgarians from 2014 onwards.
Between them Romania and Bulgaria have a population of 29 million people (Bulgaria 7.5 million).UKIP has estimated that as many as 400,000 could come to the UK from the East European countries; the pressure group Migration Watch gives a possible figure of around 50,000.
But Mr Dimitrov says most Bulgarians who want to come and work in the UK have already done so, using the existing regulatory system of visas and work permits. The scrapping of such regulations won’t make much difference, he says.
In an interview to be broadcast on Channel 4 News this evening, he said:
“Most of those who want to work legally in the UK, or to study in the UK, have done so even after 2007 when we became members of the European Union. So there are no pre-requisites for a major influx.
“I would expect new people, but only those who see niches in your labour market, for the simple reason that the search for job opportunities has been open for six to seven years now, since January 1st 2007.”
The ambassador couldn’t hide his anger about what some politicians and commentators in Britain have been saying recently about Bulgaria and its citizens. The embassy was closely monitoring these remarks, he said, and consulting lawyers about possible libel:
“What cannot be tolerated is the defamation, the negative campaign, the generalisation, the branding of a whole nation as being less fit to be integrated into the European Union, or whose citizens are less fit to be integrated and to be living as hard working law abiding citizens, or residents of the United Kingdom.”
When I pressed him on the problems of street crime committed in Britain by Bulgarian visitors, Konstantin Dimitrov said that this was indeed a problem in the recent past, but he insisted that it had now been tackled:
“We have broken the back of the petty criminality that was pestering the UK streets several years ago, and I think a testimony to that may be given by your law enforcement agencies.
“Bulgarians were a problem but no longer, as of two, three years now, and statistics can prove that.”
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There are 7 comments on this post
Compared to when Eastern European countries joined the EU and we received an unexpected influx of Poles, in particular, the economic situation is very different. We aren’t enjoying healthy growth with lots of job opportunities. We’re in recession with few job opportunities. And the Bulgarians I’ve met over the last few years, including those who have worked in my house have invariably been intelligent, hard-working & eager to fit in. There will always be some who see an opportunity for crime or “benefit tourism” (though if they try the latter, they’ll find they won’t get benefits under UK/EU rules for at least a year), but most immigrants come here to learn, work and make money. They are usually the people with more energy and intelligence than the average and – to reverse the usual syaing by the Scots, each Bulgarian who enters the UK will raise the average quality of workers here, while reducing it back in Bulgaria. (I should also add that virtually all the Bulgarians I’ve met weren’t just styudy English in their spare time, they were studying a technical subject, like gas engineering, etc). The UKIP campaign is misleading, lacks evidence & poisonous. The unwritte assumption that we Brits are in some way superior to the rest of the world is also laughable.
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Like i said Bulgarians,Romanians are no different to anybody else , though you are coming out with racists statements that the English see them selves superior snobs. The English to me are a very mongrel race ,people have come and gone ,other countries control there immigration that`s not racist because the issue is maths , we have more than enough people here, we`ve got to get in to housing and jobs , we are not a united state of Europe , so our priorities should start at home first , get your own house in order before you start worrying a bout anyone else, for obvious reasons.
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UKIP has estimated that as many as 400,000 could come to the UK from the East European countries; the pressure group Migration Watch gives a possible figure of around 50,000.
UKIPs figure was the total. migration watch was per year.
Get that clear please.
FACT: Britain is a small island and is overcrowded.
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England has`nt the room ,(most densely populated country in Europe) jobs , housing or anything else , especially as the last government in their own words spent all the money (on the banks we`re told , where did all that money go)?Nothing against Romanians or Bulgarians no different to anyone else the country is full up and broke.
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Er, actually the Dutch are denser (in numbers per hectare) than we are. There’s bags of spare space up North in our island.
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i wish the comment “wont get benefits for a year” was true – -BUT – when a large family from the new countries roll up with no house – no money and no job – -there will be a “human rights” lawyer waiting – paid for by the taxpayer – to ensure the newcomers are placed in a nice free house – with all the furniture etc – -again paid for by us,
if they are told they are not entitled then the lawyer will then turn on the money grabbing mode to fill his own pockets and win a large “sue the government” payout for the newcomer. – so councils etc – -with no money – -will find it cheaper to just put them all in houses while the english people will just be made homeless.
i have worked since leaving school – -45 year ago – and -in december 2011 i was injured and havent worked since – after my sickpay stopped i had to claim from the government – -i was awarded £22.17 a week – -compare this with people who bring their families here – -never contribute a penny – -and get hundreds a week – -for sitting on their a***s !
also the newcomers kids will have to be found school places – -and that will be at the expense of our kids – -there will have to be found interpreters – more out of the schools budgets
they will all walk into the doctors and hospitals – and need interpreters again – -more time wasted and more cost – -and then add on the free prescription cost as well !!
when you know things from your own experience you see it for real – -and how much of this “free” medicine is going to be sent back home?
and what about all the old people who are going to come here – and they will -anybody thought of who is going to pay for their state pensions? – if the government says they wont be entitled to any – -then all that happens is that they get the equivalent in other benefits -the newcomers are really in a no loss situation
this government and the EU are deliberately destroying this country – -they CANNOT be so stupid that all this is accidental – -standards are going down and down – -and all the government do is awarded themselves a payrise so they are ok!
hope channel four gets a real good interviewer and gets the top ministers – and a big live audience to question them – -and a few body language experts to watch them squirm – -also will any of the ministers agree to be on this while wired to a lie detector??
would love to see the audience numbers for that one !!
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Just a simple question – while I accept that Governments of all sorts make mistakes that damage the country, what is the motive for either the Government or the EU to wish to destroy the UK?
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