In an interview for The Times Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said that a huge migration wave would not occur after Bulgaria's EU entry, as the cold weather was going to keep Bulgarians away from the UK.

According to estimates nearly 600 000 Eastern Europeans are expected to seek employment in the UK. A number of British officials and company representatives already demanded restrictions on labourer migration.

“I am afraid I will disappoint the British media. We don’t have so many qualified plumbers,” Stanishev said.

In case Britain's open door policy ended, migrant workers were going to enter the country illegally, Stanishev said. “If you limit the possibilities from Bulgaria and Romania you will have illegal immigrants from Africa and Asia. I don’t know in this unsafe security world if this is a better option“, Stanishev said.

Most Bulgarian workers were migrating to South European countries and the inflow of labourers to the UK was going to be insignificant, said Stanishev.

In addition, Bulgaria's economy was developing and unemployment was going to be taken further down, Stanishev told The Times.