Kapka Kassabova
The Guardian

What's wrong is that they joined the EU after half a million Polish migrants rocked up to these shores. Tough luck.

On Tuesday, the government confirmed that Bulgarians and Romanians will be barred from working in the UK for at least another year. Why? Because, the argument goes, the effects of the two countries' recent EU membership are yet to be fully evaluated. But the real reason is that the government is fearful of losing its grip on immigration.

The economic truth, as a cynical fellow Bulgarian pointed out during January's somewhat subdued EU accession celebrations in Sofia, is that those who really wanted to leave have already gone.

They have had nearly 20 years to do it. Bulgaria's population has shrunk dramatically as a result. The highly skilled and the resourceful have remade their lives in the US, Europe and the Antipodes. Others have fallen through the cracks of their adoptive countries' black economies. With Bulgarian unemployment at 6.7%, lower than the EU average, there is a trend for some workers to return home.

This may be why the Bulgarian media didn't get too excited over the latest bad news from Britain. For some, it confirmed that we are still, in the eyes of "Europe", second-class citizens. And some suggested angrily that Bulgarian migrants contribute infinitely more to the British economy than British ex-pat pensioners and property investors do to Bulgaria.

Others pointed out that it's only fair for the UK to safeguard itself against foreigners. Besides, a Bulgarian in London chirped, as EU members you can apply to remain for free, as opposed to the usual fee of ВЈ400. We must be grateful for small mercies. This, along with resourcefulness and fatalism, is something communism taught us well.

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