Below is Mr Farage’s letter and my response – point by
point.
You can read his full letter here. I have not responded to some points as they are plain ridiculous.
I love my country, but it does not mean I hate yours. I know
many fantastic Bulgarians and I have no desire to dislike or disparage the
wonderful people of Bulgaria.
– Then why are you leading a political campaign that is
specifically targeted against Bulgarians? Your statement is very hypocritical
and I cannot take it seriously given the recent events.
It is great for you that you have been able to come to the
UK and avail yourself of a free university education and free healthcare funded
by the British taxpayer.
– This free healthcare is funded by all living and working
in the UK , many of whom are immigrants and some specifically Bulgarians.
After the entry of a number of European countries to the EU
in 2004, over one million have come to live (and many to work) in Britain
– Immigrants are direct net contributors to the health and
social systems in Britain. I dare you dispute that with immigrants in the UK!
As you can imagine and no doubt witnessed the large influx
of people over a short period of time has caused severe strain on our tax
funded healthcare system, on our social welfare system, and caused a huge
demand for more housing.
– Again I will mention that a great percentage of these
immigrants are direct net contributors to the health and social systems. How is
demand for housing bad for housing developers who make so much money on selling
and providing people with housing. Plus a lot of the immigration population has
contributed to the housing market so this can never be an excuse. These same
immigrants also pay council taxes and healthcare taxes and contribute with
their work to Britain. In addition why are you misleading the British public
and not presenting them with all the facts in regards to Romanian and Bulgarian
immigration. The British public needs to be aware that since they joined the EU
back in 2007 Bulgarians and Romanians have been able to travel with no visas
and work as self- employed with no problems in the UK. This means that since
2007 whoever wanted to move in, live and work in Britain has done so. The
change in 2014 will simply allow these nationalities to be hired as employees- how will that affect the
immigration numbers? The very least this change will guarantee that highly
qualified individuals are employed and contribute directly with tax payments to
the social and health care systems. Why are you misleading the British public
and using scare tactics?
Many British people are justly uneasy about the character
and culture of their cities, towns and villages being radically changed without
them being asked or without giving their consent.
- Again, the change in 2014 only affects the employment
status of these two nationalities. Why are you not working on integrating
immigrants in these villages thus preserving what Britain stands for –
tolerance and diversity? Plus it is absolutely appalling to be targeting only
specific nationalities – this is in every way chauvinistic, selective and xenophobic.
Please be assured that the UK Independence Party is
completely opposed to all forms of racism and sectarianism
– Not true as you are specifically targeting certain
nationalities and this is plain discrimination.
But this matter of mass immigration has nothing to do with
race or religion, it simple economics
– Then why are you targeting only Bulgarians and Romanians?
If the matter is only simply economics related then deal with it by suggesting
financial and economic solutions, not solutions based on discrimination against
specific nationalities.
The UK cannot afford to accommodate every person who wishes
to come
– That is fine, just make the same rules for everyone , not
only specific rules for one nation, race or ethnicity!
Polish is now the second most commonly spoken language in
the UK
– This is not true and you know it! According to the 2011 UK
Census, there were approximately 4,214,000 South Asians in England and Wales
representing around 7.5% of the population. The same 2011 census shows that
people from Poland are the second biggest group of foreign residents now living
in England and Wales, behind Indians. So how is it possible that Polish is the
second most commonly spoken language even before Indian? And most importantly:
How is that related to Bulgarian immigration?!?
I am sure Bulgarians love their country. How would your
people feel if at the accession of, let's say, Turkey to the EU in the near
future, one million Turkish migrants came to live in Bulgaria? Would the people
of Bulgaria really be happy about that? Would you really be happy, that without
your consent, one million migrants took advantage of your welfare and
healthcare system at the expense of the Bulgarian taxpayer? I think not.
– You are again playing with people’s nationalistic
feelings. No one is arguing with you weather a country should have specific
immigration plans in place. What the Bulgarian public is not happy about is
discrimination. You cannot set one rule for one nation and another rule for others and all based on their
nationality. Plus, why do you keep saying that migrants take advantage of the
welfare and healthcare systems? A lot of migrants in Britain work hard and
contribute directly to the net economy, including Bulgarian immigrants! Why are
you not concentrating and speaking about the social and health systems
themselves and how to make them better so no one ( British and immigrants)
takes advantage of them? Also are you saying that British people do not take
advantage of these systems while immigrants are doing the jobs no one wants and
are paying their taxes?
If I simplify things and mistakenly say the monthly pension
in Bulgaria is 100 euros or 138 euros, it matters very little in the large
scheme of things. When compared to many
western parts of Europe, Bulgaria is a much poorer country. This is not an
insult, as you suggest, but a fact. (We shall look at the reasons why Bulgaria
is poor later.)
– You say you are not specifically targeting anyone, then
what is this comment? What does the economic status of Bulgaria has to do with
immigrants in the UK? If an immigrant is in the UK and they are working hard
and paying their taxes why does it matter what is happening economically in
Bulgaria?
When there are open borders and large divergences in wealth
and opportunities between two countries there is usually large-scale emigration.
That is a simple fact and has certainly been the British experience post 2004.
The naive or misleading politicians who said it would not happen before 2004
have been proved completely wrong.
– You are referring here to what happened with Polish immigration
in the UK. Poland is a country of about 38 million people. Bulgaria is a
country of about 7.3 million people and 3 million of them have been living in
the past 10 years across Europe and America. The two countries are not related in any way. Do
you seriously think that the remaining 4.3 million Bulgarians will move to UK
in 2014? If that is what you are suggesting then I guess the country will be
left to the some 30 000 or more UK nationals that recently moved to Bulgaria…..And
even if there is a slight chance in your mad suggestion that these remaining 4.3
million will rush over to Britain in 2014 why haven’t they done this by now? As
I stated before they have been able to do so since 2007?
The European Commission said both Bulgaria and Romania had
not produced convincing results in the areas of judicial reform, the fight
against corruption and organised crime. It outlined that contract killings were
still a major problem in your country.
– Why are you citing reports by the EU if you are the main
self-proclaimed Europhobe in Britain? Don’t be a hypocrite. And again what does
the state of Bulgarian economy has to do with Britain and lawful immigration in
Britain? You are using these numbers, statistics and negative reports as a
scare tactics to the British public and you are doing this very selectively. Why
are you listing all these negative aspects and not mentioning the good things
about Bulgaria? Well, as per what history has thought us, these scare tactics (
fear mongering ) have been used by a lot of other political parties in crisis
times in order to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some
specific end. The feared object or subject is sometimes exaggerated ( in this
case the object is specifically Bulgarian immigrants), and the pattern of fear
mongering is usually one of repetition, in order to continuously reinforce the
intended effects of this tactic, sometimes in the form of a vicious
circle. Some political figures that have
used the same tactics you are using are George W. Bush, Adolf Hitler, Benito
Mussolini, etc…. Why are you not concentrating on UK’s problems but instead you
are talking about what is happening in Bulgaria?
The reason that many Bulgarian people are poor is because
they are made so by a corrupt political class who profit at the peoples' expense
– Well now that you cleared what everyone else already knows
for a long time now, why don’t you concentrate on solving the British issues at
hand? Again what is happening in Bulgaria has nothing to do with immigrants who
work, live and pay their taxes and contribute to Britain.
What mass emigration will mean for Bulgaria is a huge brain
drain, when your bright and best educated young people will leave for Western
Europe and your state will be the poorer for it.
– This is the only half- sensible thing you say here. But
again it proves that you contradict yourself and have no idea what you are
talking about. So you do not want these bright and best educated young people
to live and work in the UK and contribute to the British economy? What a mess
you have done.
Mass emigration is bad for you, and it is bad for us in the
UK.
– Are you insinuating that all immigrants all over the world
should go back to their countries of origin? This is the most xenophobic
sentence ever written. Are you claiming that immigration is bad for a country?
Are you ready to state this to all immigrants here in the UK, even those that
are 3rd or 4th generation and have helped build Modern
Britain? Or even worse are you stating that only Bulgarian immigration is bad? Isn’t
that a very xenophobic and chauvinistic statement? What do you have against Bulgarians and why it is
ok for everyone else to come to Britain but Bulgarians?
It is quite normal and rational that many Bulgarian people
wish for a better life, but mass emigration out of Bulgaria to the UK is not
the answer.
– So basically it is ok for anyone else (British , Indian,
American, French etc…) but Bulgarians to migrate? You are promoting free
international movement but only for selected nations. This is the most discriminatory
thing I have ever heard. Singling out a nation like that surely must be against
human rights.
Putting an end to political corruption in your beloved
country is
– Putting an end to the xenophobic and highly irrational
political rant of a misinformed individual like you Mr Farage is the key to
solving the problems here in UK. We need to be speaking about reforms in the
social system and health system that will be positive for everyone living and
working and contributing to Britain. One thing we should stop doing is wasting
our time on discriminating specific people. It doesn’t help anyone the
slightest!
Sincerely,
Sasha Stefanova
A hard working individual who lives, works, owns a home and
pays taxes in the UK.
Ah, forgot to mention also a Bulgarian.
