Britons living in Bulgaria. Guide to Bulgaria, Sofia and Varna

REPLACING GB WITH BG


A businessman living in Yambol area told us: “I also invested in some other places but Bulgaria seems more stable. A great majority of them envision staying in Bulgaria. A man from a village near Veliko Turnovo had made a rather in-depth research before making up his mind: I’ve done some research on Bulgaria. A number of factors play a role in choosing Bulgaria. Additionally, responses varied in their emphasis on particular push or pull factors as the dominant motives for the move. Although the survey registers opinions of Bulgarians who are not pleased with the behaviour of individual Britons, the attitude to the newcomers is generally rather positive. As a rule, they are friends with their Bulgarian neighbours. Both pupils themselves and their parents seemed to be satisfied with the level of education here: “the fact the all the children here want to go to school is telling in itself. Coming from a completely different environment most of them are amazed by the friendly relations among neighbours. Despite the fact that the majority of Britons we contacted are indeed retired, quite a few people in an active age also chose to come to Bulgaria along with their children who attend Bulgarian schools and kindergartens. Don’t Come to Bulgaria if you are Not Prepared to Wait Nearly everybody complained of the heavy bureaucracy. Even getting rid of the old broken down car turned out to be a serious problem. Given that the first channel is not easily available to foreigners (it, however, is not completely closed and some of the Brits are already using it (cf. Here I am frightened to go down the village... Here I Think Schooling is Better To our great surprise the Bulgarian educational system was viewed positively by the interviewed British families. I can see the real estate prices crashing over soon”; “Years ago that might have been a good idea [to go to Spain] but now it’s very, very expensive. I checked out the ethnic relationship in the country… I know the GDP was growing in Bulgaria. I didn’t want to go there, to get in trouble”. I know you have harsh winters but you cannot see snow anymore in England while here you can do skiing. In a country with “terrible bureaucracy” there seem to be two ways to get your job done quickly: “people with contacts and money can bypass some of the procedures”. In England nobody wants to go to school. In the course of the survey, the project team did a total of 62 in-depth interviews. It was depicted as slow, cumbersome, unprofessional and unhelpful: “bureaucracy drives me crazy”; “administration is horrendous, if it’s done correctly”; “You are like in Spain 30 years ago. It was seen as “not even near as negative as people say”. It’s Not Just the Speed; the Quality is Very, Very Good The social system which got surprisingly good feedback from our respondents was health care. Key Findings First, this survey suggests that there are no xenophobic attitudes or aggression towards foreigners on the part of the local population. Life’s quite stressful in England.” The lifestyle in the villages of Bulgaria reminds many elderly British of their childhood: My mum is 84 and she was here... Many of the British citizens included in the survey demonstrate a vivid interest in the local culture. Many of them live in the country permanently. Many perceive it as something natural: “to oil the wheel of commerce” or “if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”. Most of the Brits we met had used at least some kind of medical care. Most of the team members are also members of the Association of Bulgarian Chevening Scholars. My parents are moving to this village.” Some shared that they will like to be buried here. Nevertheless, there is still no official information on the exact number of those people, nor any sociological surveys focused on the reasons for their moving to Bulgaria and their way of life here. Not here.” Corruption is Not As Big As People Say If we can trust the information from the interviews, corruption does not appear to be a big problem for the U.K. Oddly, most of the Britons reckoned Bulgaria is much safer than the U.K.: “In England I had a special police dog for protection. One of the interviewed shared: …in the U.K. Others are expecting their family to join them soon: “My partner’s brother bought another house in a village 2 km. Preface According to unofficial data, between 50 and 250 thousand Britons have bought properties in Bulgaria in the last few years. Properties are very expensive and now I think the bubble may burst.” Why Bulgaria? Registering a vehicle takes ages when in England it is done by post. Safety issues are still considered to be among the top-3 problems according to the most recent opinion polls. Second, the survey disproved the popular myth that it is only poor British pensioners who come to Bulgaria. She loved it because it may have reminded her England when she was young. She was fascinated by the home-grown vegetables, the countryside, the ladies in the field. So you sell it and upgrade to a bigger house. Some of them understand Bulgarian well enough to watch Bulgarian TV and to read newspapers. Spain is Already a ‘Fish and Chips Country’ Spain seemed to be the chief ‘competitor’ of Bulgaria as a place to move to. Surprisingly, all interviewed Britons felt particularly safe in Bulgaria. The Best Quality of All is the Bulgarians Nearly unanimously Bulgarians are considered to be extremely friendly, nice, and warm people. The current report presents the results of a survey, carried out by an interdisciplinary research team in the period June-September 2007. The few negative reactions the project team got came from people without personal experience of the system. The Future Prospects At the end of our interview we always asked our respondents what their future plans were. The initial expectation of the project team was that some Bulgarians will be opposed to Britons coming to their country and buying out their land. The prime consideration seems to be the political and economic stability of the country. The project team found this to be quite interesting, especially when compared to the popular public opinion of the high level of crime in the country. The project was kindly supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Embassy in Sofia. The warm welcome Britons get in the country has its significant impact on their general attitude towards Bulgaria. There’s a lot more enthusiasm here”. They do not seem to have rules here… We came from Brighton… That’s a very busy city, you know. They Drive as Lunatics Here Bulgarian driving habits are certainly among the things the respondents criticize the most. Third, the situation of Britons we contacted suggests that they are not capsulated in a closed community (as in Spain and in France, for example). Thus, they have personal observations of Bulgarian health system. While the research traditionally identifies these characteristics as ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors, respondents often made it clear that a push factor in the U.K. Your community is fragmented and broken.