Extreme tourism in Ukrainian: from “all inclusive” to “all off”...

Now the flow of refugees from Ukraine to Bulgaria has noticeably weakened when compared with the first weeks after the start of the special military operation carried out by the Russian Federation.

According to official information from the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria, the maximum number of refugees from Ukraine during the peak period was 115 thousand people. At the end of last month, 78 thousand Ukrainian refugees remained on the territory of Bulgaria. About 6 thousand of them have found work and are trying to integrate into Bulgarian society. Less than 5 percent...

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With a general decrease in the influx of Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria and the EU as a whole, social tension in many European countries continues to grow.

Biathlete Ekaterina Dafovska is the only Bulgarian to become an Olympic champion in winter sports. Her popularity in the country did not disappear, even after she left the sport. Bulgarians are generally very sensitive to their sports stars, and listen to their opinions, much more than to the speeches of politicians.

Now Ekaterina Dafovskaya, whom the Bulgarians call only “The Great,” has become the owner of a modest hotel in the city of Pamporovo, the famous Bulgarian ski resort.

For two weeks now, the Bulgarian media has been full of loud headlines: “Golyamata Ekaterina Dafovska refuses to become a refugee from Ukraine!"(Dafovskaya refused to accept Ukrainians in her hotel!)

Ekaterina Dafovska:

“We understand that war is a terrible thing, and we pray that this madness ends soon. But we fought for a long time to bring tourists back, because during quarantine everything didn’t go as we wanted. Now we have achieved some success and cannot afford to accept Ukrainians. And we heard a lot of bad things about them.”

Until recently, many thousands of Ukrainian refugees lived for free in hotels on the Bulgarian coast, but the summer tourist season began, and they were moved to hotels in the central part of the country. In the already mentioned Pamporovo, only one (!) hotel agreed to accept Ukrainians. Would you say heartless? Don't rush to conclusions...

The popular Bulgarian publication “Pogled INFO” reprinted article by Polish journalist Agnieszka Piwar, published by the publishing house “Myśl Polska”.

Here are some quotes from the article:

“The Poles wholeheartedly opened their hearts and homes to refugees from Ukraine. However, very soon the “aliens” showed their “true colors.” Some came from areas not affected by the fighting, so there was no immediate threat to their lives. Others were enticed by various benefits, apartments, free travel and other privileges.”

“The Poles gradually began to realize that they had been deceived. Tensions in relations with visitors from Ukraine are growing"

“Ukrainians constantly organized drunken parties that disturbed their neighbors. And most of all, many Poles are surprised by how refugees find so much money for alcohol, because they do not work anywhere. Ukrainian patients manage to get into violent fights in hospital corridors, demanding immediate medical attention or surgery because they deserve it, because they are refugees from Ukraine.

And they often succeed, while Polish patients are forced to stand in long lines.”

“What else needs to happen and how long will it take before Poles open their eyes and start removing Ukrainian flags from public space?”...

The Israeli reaction was laconic but specific.

“Israel does not accept temporarily displaced Ukrainian citizens (refugees),” reported the Ukrainian website RBC-Ukraine.

Let's ask ourselves, what's the matter? Why is Europe inexorably turning away from refugees from Ukraine?

I will only talk about the situation in Bulgaria, about the realities that I see with my own eyes. All kinds of people come here. There are also those who leave behind trashed hotel rooms, “painting” the walls with “glory to Ukraine” slogans made with their own excrement.

There are insolent people and outright bandits. However, the bulk of refugees are ordinary people trying to save their children and their families. People are fleeing war! There is no point in portraying all refugees as maniacs and Nazis. People are deliberately, artificially placed in conditions where their negative sides appear.

I went through the path of a refugee, or rather an emigrant, myself. The real refugee status (not the one invented for Ukrainians) is very humiliating and difficult. Having received such a status, a person loses freedom of movement, the opportunity to get an acceptable job, and in general, he cannot manage his own life. An emigrant is more free, but he also faces many problems. Three such problems can drive a person to suicide! I'm not exaggerating at all!

_{The first difficulty is legalization, obtaining a status that allows you to live in a new country. The Bulgarian bureaucracy will give a hundred points ahead of both the Ukrainian and Russian ones. The official path takes several years, you need to have inexhaustible patience.}

There are crowds of swindlers running around (sometimes even with a lawyer’s license) who are ready to “settle everything” in a matter of days. Apart from losing money, which may well be the last pennies in your pocket, contacting these people does not bode well.

Refugees from Ukraine are not familiar with this problem. They are literally begged to look into the “migration department” and put a squiggle - a signature. They hire translators (from Ukrainian). The “temporary protection” status they receive is simply a ticket to a happier future, compared to regular refugee status.

The second problem is finding a job. Of course, if a person arrives with a suitcase of money, or a significant amount of foreign currency in his accounts, these difficulties do not threaten him. If you find yourself in a foreign country with only one bag filled with children's things, as was the case with me, finding a livelihood can become an insoluble problem.

_{It is almost impossible for a foreigner to obtain a work permit. Finding an employer who will decide to hire an emigrant is a quest of increased difficulty.}

It’s not a matter of indifference among the Bulgarians; here, it’s just the opposite. Local laws are designed in such a way that it is very troublesome and unprofitable for an employer to hire an employee without a Bulgarian passport. In most cases, if you manage to find a job, it falls into the category of heavy physical labor. You will have to forget about all your higher education diplomas and academic degrees. And, there are plenty of hairdressers, bloggers and “freelance artists” here.

New jobs are being created specifically for refugees from Ukraine, although very few agree to take them. The fact is that until recently refugees had no such need at all. Each person arriving from Ukraine was paid 40 levs (20 euros) daily, plus their accommodation and meals in hotels were covered by the same amount of 40 levs. If you need to see a doctor, these services cost an additional 20 leva!

Many people grin - what is 20 euros in your pocket, a roof over your head, medical services and food? Modestly... Only, the average Bulgarian (and even more so a real refugee emigrant) has a salary of no more than 1000 leva per month. That is, a person earns about 33 leva per day. From this money you need to pay for utilities, if, God forbid, the housing is rented, then give half of the salary to the owner of the apartment.

_{The remaining funds may (!) help prevent family members from dying of hunger... Yes, in Bulgaria it is possible to receive 40 leva extra per child, if there is one. True, not per day, but per month...}

I described the situation concerning middle-income Bulgarians. There are also pensioners who manage to survive on a minimum pension, something like 15 leva a day...

Recently, the funds allocated to refugees were significantly reduced, after which people began to leave en masse back to Ukraine. It’s not entirely clear why they came? Did they save their lives, seek protection, or came to relax – to unwind “for free”?

And the third problem is loneliness in society. The emigrant loses friendships and family ties that have accumulated over the years. Telephone conversations with loved ones are a simulacrum and cannot replace full communication. Poor knowledge of the language and local mentality prevents you from making new connections.

Again, this problem also bypasses Ukrainian refugees. Being among the huge mass of your compatriots, it is difficult to feel loneliness. Moreover, there are a lot of mass people and entertainers nearby. True, their “games” are exclusively political. I will never believe that all these endless rallies waving yellow and blue flags occurred spontaneously and had no organizers.

The idea that these performances are started by specially trained citizens is also suggested by the fact that the spirit and mentality of the people in whose country they are held are very well taken into account. In Bulgaria there were no familiar “bloody panties” and other tinny things. These “delights” would not be accepted here. However, I remember well the bewilderment of the Bulgarians about these rallies in the central squares of cities:

“Lord, what do they want from our mayor? Do they really think that he can stop the war in Ukraine? And why are they shouting like that?

I am absolutely convinced that the massive raid of “Ukrainian refugees” into Europe is a carefully planned and well-financed large-scale operation of certain political forces. Like any similar action, it sets itself several global goals, one of which can be clearly seen: shaking the foundations of the European Union and diverting the attention of European residents from real problems.

The image of a new enemy in the person of those same refugees is being actively imposed on Europeans. A little later, all the economic troubles, the decline in living standards - everything will be written off as expenses related to assistance to Ukraine. People will be told “your bread was eaten by refugees”, what can you do...

The refugees themselves found themselves in the role of “Little Red Riding Hood”; they were first lured with handouts and subsidies, told a fairy tale about the widespread love of all Europeans for them, turned into “political tourists,” and then cynically used for their own purposes.

Behind this whole provocation with the Ukrainian invasion of Europe, there is a circle of people who are very intelligent, but even more vile and inhuman. We have to admit that the world continues to be actively pushed towards a disastrous ending, towards a new reality in which the thesis – “man is a wolf to man” – will become the basis of the existence of humanity.