Tens of thousands of Bulgarians will head to Britain says European survey
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...an-survey.html
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Tens of thousands of Bulgarians are expected to leave their country permanently with a view to settling in Britain, according to a new survey carried out for the European Parliament.
The survey by pollsters Afis found that around 400,000 people – more than 5 per cent of the population – indicated they would leave the country in the next two years, with UK the destination of choice for nearly a quarter of the would-be migrants.
Previously, Spain, Greece and Italy had been Bulgarians' top venues for migration because of the language similarities. But now Britain with 22.5 per cent and Germany with 22.9 per cent are favourites.
If the same percentage is repeated from January 2014, when Bulgarian citizens - along with those from Romania – will gain free movement in to the UK, it is estimated that 80,000 Bulgarians will arrive in Britain.
The UK Government has so far refused to provide official estimates saying they would not be reliable.
The survey findings come in the wake of recent Eurostat wage figures which also point to the huge pull factor the UK may have for Bulgarian migrants.
Figures on 2012 average wage levels showed a vast differential in hourly wage levels between EU member states with those in Bulgaria being one fifth of those in the UK.
Bulgarians are paid £3.15 per hour compared to £18.4 per hour in the UK.
Reacting to the Afis survey findings, UKIP immigration spokesman Gerard Batten said: "This survey shows that a huge amount of Bulgarian people want to emigrate from their homeland and that the UK and Germany are now their new destinations of choice.
"Given that huge political unrest that is currently taking place in Bulgaria right now, I will only expect this figure to rise. This situation is compounded by an extremely high level of corruption in this EU member state whose citizens will have free movement to the UK from January.
"We can clearly see the UK shall be a magnet for those who want to work because of the wage differential. Large scale economic migration from these EU states is very bad for British workers because it is likely to lower their wage levels." He added, "Sadly the UK can do nothing to stop a wave of immigration from Bulgaria while Britain is still part of the EU and bound by its laws."
Bulgaria, with just over seven million people, remains easily the poorest country – and one of the most corrupt – among the EU's 28 member states.
Official figures state that around 100,000 Bulgarians already live in the UK – many more than the 30,000 in France or 75,000 in Germany – despite the UK being further away. It is believed actual figures may be higher.
It has been argued that this undermines assertions that migrants go to EU countries close to home and may indicate that the desire for family reunification could increase Bulgarian numbers in the UK both rapidly and significantly.
The number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers in Britain increased by 15 per cent over the past year to a record 112,000. Some 14,000 extra people from the former Eastern bloc states found jobs here last year.
Just 2,000 Romanian and Bulgarians worked in Britain in 1997, which jumped to 29,000 a decade later when the two countries joined the EU.
At present, residents of both countries can only work if they are self-employed or are one of a limited number of seasonal workers who are allowed six months' employment before returning home.
According to the 2011 census, Bulgaria has lost no less than 582,000 people over the last ten years and 1.5 million of its population since 1985, a record in depopulation not just for the EU, but also by global standards. The country, which had a population of almost nine million in 1985, now has almost the same number of inhabitants as in 1945 after World War II.
Bulgarian pollster Yuriy Aslanov said, "The Western world should not worry about Bulgarians coming to their countries – Bulgarians are the ones that should be alarmed by the emigration rate. Quality people, educated people, qualified and in active age, are ready to abandon their homeland and contribute to the Gross Domestic Product of other countries."
