Bulgarians living and working in the UK are not there to take unfair advantage of the country, but are rather a valuable asset for it, according to Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kristian Vigenin.

"Bulgarians in Britain are no beggers. They do not exploit the social system - they contribute to the system much more than they are receiving from it," said Vigenin in an interview for bTV Thursday.

The Bulgarian top diplomat stressed that most Bulgarians in the UK are of high professional qualification, while those that are not work sectoral jobs that British citizens avoid and thus also make an important contribution to the country.

"The greater problem for Bulgaria is that those people are not here to contribute to Bulgaria's economy," said Vigenin.

Starting January 1, 2014, the UK will fully liberalize the working regime for Bulgarians and Romanians, as required by EU legislation.

But the government has announced restrictive measures on receiving social benefits for migrants, in a latest development of a social and political situation that got nicknamed "the UK migrant scare."

In the interview Thursday, Buglaria's Foreign Minister Vigenin described the policy as "unfortunate."

He connected worries in the UK about Bulgarian and Romanian migrants with a wider wave of nationalism in the EU, but said he hopes that it will subside soon.

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