Sir

I am writing to you to express my disappointment and alarm at the anti-Bulgarian rhetoric, which several UK government ministers indulged in over the past couple of weeks. 

Using the excuse of “responding to public concern”, these ministers made sweeping statements, describing Bulgaria as the “poorest country in Europe” and the Bulgarians as ignorant people desperate to escape their chaotic country and to start a luxurious existence on British social security benefits.  The ex-Chairman of CBI Digby Jones announced on Newsnight that “Bulgarians are obviously less skilled than the Czech, the Slovak and the Polish workers”. 

These public statements reveal open xenophobia verging on racism.  The British government can ill afford to demonise one of its ethnic minorities in the face of the obvious failure to integrate most other ethnic minorities in the mainstream of society.   The Bulgarians in Scotland and in the rest of the UK are net contributors to the wealth of society and not a drain on its resources.  There are Bulgarians in many occupations around the UK, ranging from university professors to opera stars in Covent Garden.  They have done nothing to deserve this xenophobic attitude of the Westminster officials and are having to live with the negative image of Bulgaria and Bulgarians created by these ministers.

Accepting a new member in the European Union means that the countries in the Union gain a new friend and an ally.  Friendship is to be treasured and celebrated, because it is the only real asset we are left with if we lose our material possessions.  The UK government agreed with the 2007 enlargement of the EU.  It had the option to block its accession but chose not to exercise it.  Is it not too late now to start panic-building a new iron curtain for Bulgaria?

On the issue of the relative poverty of Bulgaria: Scottish and British property buyers are flocking to Bulgaria by tens of thousands, taking advantage of the political stability of the country, the climate and the low property prices and labour cost there.  Is this not the flip side of the economic rule, which might send Bulgarian economic migrants to the UK next year?

At the end of socialism, Bulgaria had a foreign debt of about $11 billion.  Over the past 18 years, its hard-working people managed to reduce this to $6 billion.  None of this debt was written off in the way debt was abolished for many African countries.  If Bulgaria was really as poor as is believed by the British government, then why did it not benefit from the debt relief?  About $12 billion is owed to Bulgaria jointly by Iraq and Libya. Both countries defaulted on this debt, following the Anglo-American bombing there.

The members of the Scottish-Bulgarian Association are calling for a stop to anti-Bulgarian and openly xenophobic speeches by UK ministers and Labour Party  leaders.  Now is the time to build bridges between the two nations and not to re-enforce the siege mentality, which is taking hold of communities in Britain.  In the face of this ugly trend the Scottish-Bulgarian Association is working hard to foster cultural and trade links and to increase the mutual knowledge of the two peoples and we are convinced that this is the correct and only way forward for us all.

Zhivko Gulaboff
Secretary of the Scottish-Bulgarian Association
Dalgety Bay
Scotland