"UK would never tolerate clusters of illegal structures, that are not part of the city sewage system and have makeshift electric wires stealing electricity from the grid, endangering everyone around".
Sorry Valeri your'e wrong, again The Fens are full of shanty clusters of caravans, mobile homes taking electic from the grid and human excrement all over the place. I need say no more!

"I says send them all to the UK as well, they have such a rich country and they just love to help those in need".
Well Stefcho, try going to the Fens in Cambridgeshire, sorry thats near Cambridge, you know that little university town that you yanks would dearly like to emulate. The dross Pikeys and gipsys, rob, crap, abuse and scare just about all, and the good old British Bobbies (Police) are too scared to go near these ghettos!
One reason to get the hell out of Blighty (UK), oh and which Bulgarian would want [...]

Read the full comment to move to the USA with the track-record of your countries racism?
I'm with the native Bulgarians, they've had to deal with oppression long enough, now let them decide how to turn this glorious country into the Garden of Eden, of Europe!!

So typical of you Valeri to only quote one sentence of my comment. Go ahead and ignore the other facts in my comments that are true and yes in the next generation or 2 the "Roma" will be the majority and do you really think that they won't have vengence on their minds for all the mistreatment the Bulgarian people have given them, not that they deserve any more or any less then any other Bulgarian, they don't but they are not forced to live by the rules that everyone else is forced to live by. I called it a [...]

Read the full comment god forsaken country because that is what the result will be when this happens. Also for your information, I've heard many Bulgarians call Bulgaria a God forsaken country themselves because they have no chance of ever having a nice future for there children and are looking to leave Bulgaria and go to the states or to Western Europe and I can't say I don't blame them, the future is blick for Bulgaria sadly. It is trying so hard to fit into the real world by taking part in NATO operations and yes fighting wars side by side in arms with Americans and the British as well as many other country's but tell me Valeri, how many of those brave Bulgarians are of Roma desent? I'm sorry if it seemed that I painted a broad stroke over the whole country but anyone with half a brain can see that where Bulgaria is going is not a good place and certainly not a place I would want to raise my child and I will have a child by a Bulgarian woman who herself would not even have a child if she didn''t know she was getting the hell out of here.
Your so smart Valeri, why don't you run for a MP position and fix everything as you think it should be, you certainly have your opinions but talk is talk, action speaks louder then words Valeri, let's see what you have.

"There will be hell to pay for all your grandchildren if you don't get them out of this God forsaken country"

I think it's very important for every Bulgarian to read this - a God forsaken country" is what an American is calling us. We soldier for you, we let your military in our country, we support you in every one of your wonderful wars you start around the world - a God forsaken country. I have never heard a Russian say that.

Sadly, this is only one of them perhaps less [...]

Read the full comment sophisticated in hiding his contempt, but I feel one that represents a majority.

Obviously we have to rethink our attitude towards Americans and start making them feel less welcome. Remember, next time they are smiling to you, telling you how much they like Bulgarians, this is what they are thinking - remember!

I agree something needs to be done however they need to want help before they will take help. In most cases the children don't even speak Bulgarian, the speak some Roma languge so when they get to school they can't even learn so they drop out. God forbid you ever take control of your own safty and protect yourself from one of them, the next thing you know you'll have dozens of them to come and beat you with sticks or whatever. They Pimp out there 12 yr old daughters so the fathers can get drunk at night and send [...]

Read the full comment out there 7 yr old kids in traffic to clean car windows again to give to papa when they get home. They have more kids so they will get more money from the govt. These are not normal humans, they are sub human, this is there choice to live this way, The Govt don't enforce the Roma children to go to school like other Bulgarians because they realize it's a lost cause. Say what it really is, at least I'm not sugar coating it. O the poor Roma, please, give me a break. They are a day to day pain in the ass picking through the trash with little kids on the horse and buggy, why are they not in school, because they are learning the Roma way of life. I to of course watch my wallet when I'm walking downtown, they are getting organized now, they even get almost dressed nice so the one that steals can hand off to the one that is dressed nicely. It's a organized crime racket and I don't want to hear put it's not there fault, bullshit, anyone can change there circumstances at anytime with a little hard work and the willingness to do so. Not to compare Gypsis with the blacks in America but the blacks in America have done it, they have become educated and now go to college and have great jobs and we are not a socailist country as Valeri may tell you, he just don't like law and order that's his problem. I says send them all to the UK as well, they have such a rich country and they just love to help those in need.
I'm sick of the Roma, they smell, they have no integrity and sadly at this rate, in 30yrs they will be the majority of Bulgarians so how do you like that Bulgaria? There will be hell to pay for all your grandchildren if you don't get them out of this God forsaken country.

"Or you can choose nordic way where rich pay more and poor pay less and everybody gets something."

The world is not divided between the American and the Nordic ways of life. I think we will choose the Bulgarian way, not that we have much "choice" there, given that we are Bulgarians after all..

I'd hate to live in Scandinavia - it would go against every Bulgarian fabric of my make up. I didn't like the US because of their moralistic culture and pedantic enforcement of petty laws and rules. We are [...]

Read the full comment too free spirited for that. I suppose a degree of lawlessness is in our southern blood - look at Italy and the rest in the South.

I am happy if we could marginally organize our chaos - we are well on our way to achieve that. Scandinavia we will be not. Our Gipsies like it though (being payed not to steal - hell that's like stealing!;) Expect more of them;)

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Like I said before here nobody has to make crimes to live. That's meaning a big! tax percent but that's also bringing lots of good things. You can choose American way where you pay same money for insurances for YOU only. Or you can choose nordic way where rich pay more and poor pay less and everybody gets something.

Finland was before poor country too. Our increasing started after war times with hard work. What comes to climate things our winters didn't stop our romas to be travellers before and it doesn't seem to stop your [...]

Read the full comment romas to live in our streets nowadays.

Our romas have actually kept their own culture inside our culture admirable well. They are using their own traditional clothes and keeping their own habits which are including values from where finns could learn something too, for example how to treat old people. But inch by inch they are also integrating more and more. It's not fast, it has taken long time but it's happening.

I don't say Finland is paradise for them. I know they see a lot of racism. I know some of them are making crimes. But to compare them to your gipsies is just something I can't accept. I see both daily and they differ like day and night.

"You would lose that bet. Our gipsies don't have absolutely anything to do with your gipsies."

Oh but they do.

Your own government's report on Finland's Roma minority, reads as if they ripped pages out of one done for Bulgaria. All due respect Aleksandrova, but it could be that you personally happen to be too wishfully naive about Finland's achievements in that respect - not a bad thing. Only good people are prone to believe the best.

Surely being 0.2% of the population in a country too cold [...]

Read the full comment to roam the streets most of the year, where you are being showered with enough money so that you don't have to steal and can still keep and abuse your children at home, would somewhat distance you from your Romanian brothers, but not being an expert on Finnish Gipsies, I seriously doubt that the Finnish/Gipsy divide is on its way to history's trash bin, even in that much vaunted nordic paradise.



I think what you guys are doing there, is to essentially pay off the Gipsies, not to be Gipsies. That is very far from assimilating them. Good for you if you can afford it.

Two major differences - we are not as rich and they are not 0.2% of BG. In those two important respects, Finland and BG are баби и жаби;) You can carry yours on your back, our will brake our back if we try...

"I am willing to bet that our Gipsies have more in common with your Gipsies, than your Gipsies have in common with you. "

You would lose that bet. Our gipsies don't have absolutely anything to do with your gipsies. My bulgarian husband didn't even recognize our romas to be romas. And they don't even by themselves consider to be same group with these romanian/bulgarian gipsies.

Finland is a smaller country (population) with completely different history.
As you get more of our Gipsies, you'll see how endless throwing money at them, is about as useful as scooping up the ocean. The key is to start thinking larger - Romas are European ethnicity at this point. They are not Bulgarians Romanians or Slovaks. I am willing to bet that our Gipsies have more in common with your Gipsies, than your Gipsies have in common with you.

In the new Europe, we need to start thinking outside of our national box, and [...]

Read the full comment start identifying larger trends and developments.

Brit, in every European country, that "housing" would be demolished as well.
UK would never tolerate clusters of illegal structures, that are not part of the city sewage system and have makeshift electric wires stealing electricity from the grid, endangering everyone around.
BG is not a wealthy country yet, so we can't carry on our backs such a large % of the population.

Don't forget that in Finland street crimes are quite rare. Crimes that roma people make here are mostly for example stealing from markets. If you see them in the streets you don't have to check where is your wallet or to be in any other way scared. We have around 2100 robberies per year. If roma people make 18 % of them it doesn't make so much. In comparison in Bulgaria robberies are over 4200.
Bigger problem come with this foreign romas like I already told. They come here like some wave and now they sit in every [...]

Read the full comment corner begging. Thing that 3 years ago was totally impossible sight here. And not only that they are also making other crimes.

Whats the point in demolishing Roma housing, other things could be done but it would costly, the children are not born criminals

"All human beings are born into this world with bare bottoms."

True, but in most other societies we tend to cover them soon there after.

Kavachik, of course they are people like the rest of us. If you take one from early age and bring up with care, chances are that they will be no different than others.

Bulgaria actually has batter record in dealing with Gipsies, otherwise they wouldn't make up 5% of the population. In most other countries they have had much worse luck and as [...]

Read the full comment you know, the Germans even shoved them in ovens at one point.

The problem is their high birth rate - that works very much against efforts to assimilate them, however feeble those efforts may be in BG. You heard the problems Finland has with them, and they are showering tons of money on their 0.2% of Gipsy population - money that BG doesn't have yet.

Not only that, but in their view (Aleksandrova) progress was made in the last 20 years only after decades of Democracy and affluence - that is provided that 70% uneducated 0.2% of them committing 18% of street crime qualifies as "progress".

Human being are conditioned to act from habit. This is why collective mentality is the most difficult thing to change. I understand your issue with Bulgaria, I understand that you are BG Turk, but try to keep neutral views on things if you want to understand complexities.

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Comments produce opinions, and opinions might catch some influential persons attention and that might trigger motion. Sometimes things have happened strange ways.

Lots of valid comments but in the end, they do nothing to solve the problem, just exercise your right to opinion.
The argument "are gypsies thieving savages or misunderstood people" is irresolvable.
Each country has their minority, which the majority screwed at one time or another, and which is now poorer and with a worse image than the rest.
What to do with these people is the challenge, how to integrate them, how to reconcile hatred and prejudice.

Not that I don't clutch my wallet when I am surrounded by [...]

Read the full comment gypsy teenagers, but I do want to give them an alternative (ultimately, education, jobs, integration)

All human beings are born into this world with bare bottoms. The only deference is Gypsy children are born into disadvantage society. I believe if they're given a chance in the young stages of their lives they can be productive citizens when they grow up like any other child. Unfortunately, specially in Bulgaria and other Balkan countries they are degraded so much by the governments, by the people and therefore they do not mix with mainstream population. Basically, they live in these segregated neighbor hoods in close environments and some of them don’t even have primary schooling . It is [...]

Read the full comment not hard to understand their behavior and why they can not think rationally? When I served my military duty ( in the trudovi voiski) there were few Gypsy soldiers too. They did their job just like any other soldier. In my view, if they are in right environment they too can become productive workers.

If we only had 0.2% the population Roma, I'd say - sure!
That's a very small %. Past racism in combination with cold weather has spared you the infliction...

I spent a month in India and the average street is worse than the worse imaginable Bulgarian ghetto.

You see a building and there's a cardboard city around the whole thing! Every building, practically. Every corner, every shelter of any sort is full of humanity without any hygiene running water or sewage.
People, people, people, babies, babies, running without [...]

Read the full comment pants, unattended, beggars on every 5 meters - so much so that one stops noticing them. Heartbreak overload.
In Mumbai I saw a guy begging with his dead friend in hands for sympathy or perhaps with the idea of terrorizing people into giving. The dead body was obviously light, because it was well dried up and he whiled it with ease.
The sheer population pressure will ensure that nothing will change.
BG looks like Germany in comparison, but numbers matter.

(all that said, my business associates there are extremely intelligent and charming folks, but like I said, numbers matter.)

In case you don't have internet access in Sweden: 48% of street crime in BG is done by the 4.7% of Roma population.

And where did I say the problem is solved? I said it's gone better. When I was kid 20 years ago none of them were going to school. Nowadays they are there studying with other kids.
You can't really compare finnish gipsies with for example romanian or bulgarian even if they make some crimes. You will never ever see finnish roma begging on the street. We don't have special gipsi areas like you have. They are living among other finns in so called normal areas.
My idea was not show any superiority. My idea was to [...]

Read the full comment show that things can change. They have changed here a lot. In my father's ages gipsies didn't have homes. They were travelling around and cheating people. Now they differ from other finns in their own ways but not so radically.

Alexandrova:
"Situation is really got better even in 20 last years."

Interesting. So it took you how many decades of Democracy and affluence to "better" the situation?

Here's some facts about your "Mustalaiset" (or Blacks, as Finns refer to Gipsies): Finnish Justice Ministry states that 18% of the solved street crime (2005) were done by members of the Roma community, which comprises of 0.2% of the population (4.7% of the population in BG)

According to the Finnish Ministry of Labor, 70% of the Roma job seekers, [...]

Read the full comment have primary education, which is considered "uneducated" by Finnish standards. This is a quote from the report:

"Education is compulsory in Finland and this obligation applies equally to the Roma as to other citizens, but dropping out of basic education is thought still to be common among young Roma, while in the mainstream population it is extremely uncommon."

This hardly seems like a problem solved there, all of your "social programs" notwithstanding....

and generally, a word of advise to our north/western fellow Europeans: before you succumb to the instinct illustrating your superiority, do some homework, will you?
There was a Swede here earlier talking through his "priritus ani" as if the rest of us, don't have access to the internet...

Yes great picture.
Whatever problems the Roma population presents to Bulgaria or Europe, the solution is hardly to make them homeless.

In Finland roma problem is not big. We have our own group of them, have had for centuries but they are more or less integrated to our culture. Higher social services have made it. They don't have to make crimes to live anymore. Situation is really got better even in 20 last years.
Now we have faced a new problem, these gipsies from Romania and maybe also from Bulgaria. But to be honest they are totally different thing than our own ones.

Beautiful photo though!
Thanks Sofia Echo!

kavacik,
O'd agree if the Gipsy problems were only in Bulgaria.
The fact that EVERY country has IDENTICAL issues with the Gipsies, means that the problem is elsewhere...

There's nothing anyone can do about that.
I think the time to start treating the Gipsies like a separate nationality has come.
I say that not to single them out, but to recognize that they are European responsibility, not necessarily that of the country they happen to live in, given that the issues are identical, regardless of the location.
I think the EU needs more comprehensive strategy, not one of blaming individual countries and misidentifying the Roma nationals of the country they happen to reside in.
They are European Romas, not Bulgarians, [...]

Read the full comment Romanians or Czechs of Roma extraction.

In the communist years Bulgaria was baking the cake and eating it too, but now is different ball game. With joining the European Union Bulgaria has to accept to smell the roses with its thorns.

The reason no one wants them is because they are lazy,they steal anything thats not nailed down uneducated, people have tried in the past to help them but it did not work they are a law to them selves everywhere they go is destroyed i have seen some of the areas they live turned into sh*t holes.

I have on several occasions hired Roma, and ALWAYS had problems. They promise to do a job and don't deliver, want more money, poo on the street in front of our home. In the villages where their settlements are, nothing grows, they have managed to strip the land to dirt and uglify whole areas. I have seen housing they have been given, which they have destroyed and mutilated. I suggest The Bulgaria Helsinki Committee set up a little settlement in their own area and be nice and humanitarian in their own neighbourhoods. Perhaps they don't mind living with people that [...]

Read the full comment have no interest and indeed refuse to improve their condition through improving their own abilities.

Any involvement by european authorities into romanian or bulgarian dealings with the ROma are anti-democratic. I know that there will be claims that these acts are fascistic and parallels with Nazi Germany will be drawn. But let's not forget something. Hitler was not unanimously but barely got a vote majority elect, he barely got a vote in Hamburg. While in today, the desires to reform the medieval, anti-social behaviour of these people is shared by most citizens. It is not a separate decision of the government. EU, keep out of this.

Cosmos - It is simple for you to say that. I challenge you to do something about it. Offer them a position. Few people want to. I happen to work with the Roma. They are in a poverty cycle. They have a reputation that keeps them from getting work and being able to feed their families. Most are willing to work a job for reasonable pay given the opportunity. Then there is the issue that few people want them in their neighborhood. It is hard for them to get a home.

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I think we all saw this coming ,Bourgas local goverment need better PR.

This comment has been hidden by the moderator because it contained квалификации.