Bulgaria, responding to UK media reports that thousands of people from neighbouring countries are getting Bulgarian passports to access European Union labour markets after this country joins the EU, has issued assurances that it is not lax about handing out citizenship.

The media reports, in a number of leading British newspapers, appeared amid increasing pressure on the UK government not to allow unlimited access to Britain’s labour market to Bulgarians and Romanians after the two countries become EU members, an event provisionally scheduled for January 1 2007.

The UK allowed an “open door” policy during the most recent wave of EU expansion in 2004, but reportedly underestimated the influx of workers to Britain from the new EU states. Like Ireland and other EU states, the UK is yet to decide on whether to allow Bulgarians and Romanians unrestricted access to job opportunities.

An August 14 report in EUobserver.com said that 600 000 workers from the EU 10 had arrived in the UK since 2004, far in excess of the expected 13 000. According to British media reports, London estimates that from 60 000 to 140 000 Bulgarians and Romanians will come to the UK in the first year after the two countries accede to the EU.

According to an August 12 report in the Guardian, home secretary John Reid was considering a temporary ban on admitting Bulgarian and Romanian workers to the UK.

Britain’s government ministers are reportedly divided on the question. Reid and work and pensions minister John Hutton are said to favour a temporary ban - as provided for by EU accession rules, which allow member states to restrict access to their labour markets to people from new members for up to seven years - while Europe minister Geoff Hoon reportedly holds that such a ban would be a “breach of undertakings” to Bulgaria and Romania.

The BBC reported John Denham, a former cabinet minister and now chairperson of the house of commons committee on home affairs, as saying that a “breathing space” was needed to absorb recent immigrants first.

British media reports quoted former labour minister Frank Field as saying that current immigrants had serious effects on housing, health care and “the very nature of our community”, necessitating a ban on further new arrivals.

The BBC reported Reid as saying that the skills brought to the UK by immigrants had to be weighed against the burden on education and health care.

Fuelling concern were reports that thousands of people from Macedonia and Moldova had been given Bulgarian citizenship, and there was a waiting list of a further 55 000 people wanting passports and thus access to EU labour markets.

Agence France Press reported on August 13 that thousands of people were taking advantage of Bulgarian law providing a facilitated procedure for applicants able to prove Bulgarian descent.

However, August 13 reports in the Sunday Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday alleged that some applicants using this procedure did not genuinely have Bulgarian ancestry and in spite of citizenship laws requiring applicants to speak Bulgarian, were not able to. Corruption among officials processing applications was also alleged.

AFP said that more than 20 000 people had been given Bulgarian passports since 2001, and in 2004 the number rose to 29 500.

In 2005, there were 23 200 applications. Russians, Israelis, Ukrainians and Serbs, totalling fewer than 700 people, also received Bulgarian passports in 2005.

On August 14, Bulgaria’s Vice-President Angel Marin, whose portfolio includes responsibility for final decisions on citizenship applications, said that the UK media reports were “speculation”.

“It is not at all easy to become a Bulgarian citizen,” Marin said “The authors of such reports should research their stories well before writing them.”

Marin said that the UK should not worry, because Bulgarians were well-educated and good professionals, and Britain stood only to gain if they worked there.

Deputy Justice Minister Ana Karaivanova said that the screening procedure for granting citizenship remained thorough despite the increased number of applications. She rejected claims that applicants’ main motivation was to access EU labour markets.

“Many of them genuinely wish to settle in Bulgaria,” Karaivanova said.

As to the facilitated procedure for citizenship for people of Bulgarian descent, she said: “Each state is duty-bound to protect the people of its own ethnic origin, which is why I do not think it is reprehensible to accept citizens of Macedonia and Bessarabian Bulgarians who are of Bulgarian descent or who emigrated from Bulgaria some time ago but retained their traditions and language.”

The law provided barriers and guarantees against possible attempts to abuse this procedure, she said.

“Along with documents proving Bulgarian descent, applicants are required to submit a conviction status certificate, as well as a document showing that the applicants are not standing trial or under investigation at the date of submission of an application for Bulgarian citizenship. The procedure goes through a fine-toothcomb check by the relevant Interior Ministry services,” Karaivanova said.