A survey of 11 EU member states, as well as US and Turkey, shows Bulgarians do not share the concerns of their fellow countries in bloc with the same strength, and is also the least wary of potential threats from Russia.

The Bulgarians rank among the most apolitical among the respondents, with 31% saying they never discuss politics, compared to an average of 22% in the rest of the 12 European states.

Asked to rate their feelings towards a number of countries, the Bulgarians rated the EU top with 76 points on a scale of 0-100, followed by Russia with 65 points - by far the highest score in any of the 13 countries, all of them NATO member states, covered by the survey.

They were significantly less concerned with Russia's role as an energy provider, its weakening democracy and behaviour towards neighbours than the rest of Europe.

The US received a rating of 52, higher than the average among the other European states, while Israel, Palestine and Turkey are all seen with colder eyes than in other countries.

Bulgarians share most of the concerns of their European neighbours, although, as a rule, the intensity of the feeling is weaker, largely due to the large number of respondents, ranging between 10-20%, who did not answer the questions because they are unfamiliar with the issues.

Bulgarians perceive international terrorism, large-scale migrations into Europe, Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons and Islamic fundamentalism as significantly less threatening than their European peers.

On the other hand, they fear the spread of a pandemic, such as the avian flu, or an economic downturn much stronger than respondents from the other countries.

They are also cooler on the role the EU should play in dealing with such threats, with 72% supporting such a view, compared to 88% cumulative in the other member states.

The Bulgarians were also among the least supportive for the use of their military forces in combat or peacekeeping actions in far-flung regions, such as Darfur, Lebanon or Afghanistan.

This year's "Transatlantic Trends" survey was carried out by the German Marshall Fund and the Compagnia di San Paolo, with additional help from other NGO's, including Bulgaria's Tipping Point Foundation.

A total of 13,000 people were interviewed in total, roughly 1,000 in each country, during the month of June, with each sample representative of the population aged 18 years and above.

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