A new wave of Ukrainian refugees is sweeping into exhausted Bulgaria. Discontent is growing
The intensification of military operations on the territory of Ukraine is forcing huge masses of people, once again, to leave the country. The second wave of forced migrants arriving in Bulgaria is dominated by residents of Zaporozhye and Kyiv. The first 20 buses with refugees are already at the entrance to the Bulgarian resort of Sunny Beach.
The Bulgarian population experienced the spring influx of Ukrainians very emotionally. Of course, sympathy for people fleeing the war prevailed, and a desire to help settle in a new place. In general, Bulgarians for the most part are kind-hearted and open people. The political aspect, for local residents, was initially in the background, or even in the third place. Of course, some cunning politicians tried to make PR for themselves on the situation, but among ordinary Bulgarians, natural human empathy prevailed, the desire to feed and warm the suffering refugees. Gradually, the attitude towards those arriving began to change and, unfortunately, not for the better, due to the fault of some of the Ukrainians who found themselves on Bulgarian soil...
I will return to the emotional component later, but first, some numbers and facts. Here is a picture with official data: I think no translation is needed here.
The first wave of refugees who came to Bulgaria after the outbreak of armed clashes on the territory of Ukraine amounted to 622 thousand people. Today, just over 80 thousand of them remain. About 12 percent...
These are precisely the people who actually fled from the horrors of war, saving their lives and the lives of their children. Among them there are no, or almost no, “political tourists” from Western Ukraine, who realized that they could visit Europe “for free”, while at the same time renting out their apartments in Lviv and Rivne for fabulous money... They drove further, to richer countries, Ukrainian businessmen for expensive limousines that left empty shelves in local stores, buying everything in sight. Activists with “zholto-blakit” flags, bawling their “glory” under the windows of the mayors of Bulgarian cities, also disappeared. A certain number of the latter still lingered, however, mostly in the capital - in Sofia, where there is a demand for their services, and there are those who are ready to fork out for paid demonstrations.
Those who remained in Bulgaria live in much less comfortable conditions than in the first months of their stay in the country. From 100 levs per day (!) of state assistance (40 levs for hotel accommodation, 40 levs for expenses, 20 levs for medical care) a modest 15 levs remained... The owners of hotels on the coast tried to get rid of restless guests back in the summer. It’s one thing to receive forty leva per person from the authorities in the spring or winter, albeit with delays, when the rooms are empty. The situation is completely different in summer. During the season, finding a place to stay near the sea for 20 euros (40 leva) is an unrealistic task...
Those displaced people who remained in Bulgaria have to look for housing on their own. The percentage of those who currently live in hotels is very small. This means you need to look for a job. In Bulgaria, as throughout Europe, this is also a quest of increased difficulty. Of course, it is possible to find a place where a worker is needed for heavy physical labor. Only, there are two problems. The majority of those who now live in the country are women with children. Not many people will risk going to work on a construction site or on a factory floor. The second problem is psychological. Studying advertisements in Bulgarian groups and social networks, I came to the conclusion that all refugees are designers, “coaches” in various fields, psychologists, and at worst, hairdressers. With such claims, there are two options: either starve and live on handouts from social services, or return to Ukraine, where hostilities continue and bombs explode.
Another picture from official sources, which also does not require special translation.
As we can see, of those who remained to live in Bulgaria, less than 10 percent work! I mentioned that the current refugee population is mainly women with children. Here the situation is even sadder. A total of 137 (!) children were admitted to kindergartens and schools...
At the beginning of the “great migration” of Ukrainians to Bulgaria, several arriving “activists” threw mud at the local authorities and “greedy Bulgarians”, reproaching the fact that the money allocated to refugees was provided by the European Union. Indeed, the EU allocated funds, including to Bulgaria. However, again, according to official data, from the Bulgarian state budget, 172 million leva were spent on the needs of Ukrainian refugees! For one of the poorest countries in Europe, this is a very significant amount.
This is one of the reasons for the growing irritation in Bulgarian society towards immigrants arriving from Ukraine. Bulgarians are perplexed why most of them should live worse and poorer than refugees? Prices in the country are rising uncontrollably, the standard of living is falling, and the increase in wages is meager. At the same time, the state is looking for funds to help Ukrainians, while its own citizens are barely making ends meet! Moreover, a similar situation is observed in other European countries. The economic crisis spares no one. In Bulgaria, this issue is more acute due to the fact that Bulgaria, I repeat, is one of the poorest countries on the continent.
To the new migrants arriving, let me give advice, as a person who has been living in Bulgaria for several years. If you are not “transit passengers” and did not just come to bask in the autumn Bulgarian sun, think about how you will support yourself, where you will work!
Those who lured you into traveling for free, receiving help from the EU, have already completed their tasks. Everything that the leadership of the European Union and the American curators behind it were planning was in no way connected with the interests of the refugees themselves. Their goals were different: to stir up hatred of Russia among the population of European countries, to undermine the economy of Europe itself, and much more. Judging by the fact that for the first time in many years the dollar has become more expensive than the euro, they have already implemented most of their plans. The new wave of Ukrainian migrants will have to fend for themselves.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.