Strangling Freedom In Bulgaria

Image via Wikipedia

Living in Bulgaria was the best ever move for me, but only because I take the rough with the smooth. It is not a country for the faint hearted other those who are of a sensitive disposition. It is a wild country with many issues that outsiders feel are not morally correct and that is trying to be tamed by the EU. Interference with Bulgaria’s culture and ways of life are being destroyed right now. It is always outsiders who feel they know what is best when they can’t even manage their own backyard!

I feel very strongly about interference in other cultures coming from those who have probably never even visited the country they try to dictate to. I’m talking about foreigners who criticize a country from afar believing that their views are the only views that are on the table. There are so many instances of things that go on in Bulgaria that are looked with total distaste from outsiders. Smoking, litter, health and hygiene, corrupt politics and policing, illegal trading and counterfeit goods, cruelty to animals etc. Yes many of these things are facts here, but to Bulgarians this is what happens and is accepted as part and parcel of life here. Then there are outsiders who see this a culture shock and want to change things in line of what they think is right.

Whether it is s right or wrong is immaterial is just different at the end of the day, but that is not accepted. Why do they want to change Bulgarian into becoming another boring EU state with the same petty rules and regulations all built on making money from fining those who break them? It is Bulgarians that live in Bulgaria and they should be allowed to decide what needs doing and deserve a degree of autonomy, but this is been taken away right now.

I live here and see things changing very fast on a day-to-day basis, the freedom is disappearing before my very eyes and that’s not good. I came here to live a Bulgarian life not a European cloned life, which is what it will become. Hopefully the full transition to EU reforms won’t be trance into place until I am resting peacefully six foot under in a Bulgarian cemetery.

Surviving In Bulgaria With Little Money

Many people have asked me how I survive in Bulgaria with so little money. It is no secret that I came over here with hardly any savings, no job and very much with an adventure on a shoestring in mind. Most of my money that I came over with vanished completely as I crashed someone's car and had to fork out thousands of pounds to replace it. Without that incident, I would not have had to go back to the UK for a few months to work for more funds to stay here.

Back to the question and maybe an answer. Living here, I can easily live on my own for next to nothing. I was living on less that 20 Bulgarian leva a week when living on my own in my first year here and I ate well, no restaurants or uneccessary spending. Right now I could quite easily return to that economical life although the cost of living here has risen substantially since joining the EU so to survive here solo it might have risen to around 30 Bulgarian leva a week, plus the fact that expatriates have extra cost as the running of their business have to be paid, (Your land can only be owned by a registered Bulgarian company of which you are the manager.)

Right now though we are finding it difficult to live on 100 Bulgarian lev a week, mainly because we are having to provide food for our family, fuel costs for the car, electric, gas and water bills for two homes. When we leave Galia's family home, which will happen one day, we are not sure when or where we will end up, we should be able to survive on around 70 Bulgarian leva a week or even less if we gave up the weekly trips to the Skalitsa farmhouse.

Whatever happens, both Galia and I remain quite sure that I will not have to return to the UK to work, we will try an make out here indefinitely no matter how hard it is. If Galia was to lose her job again then we would really struggle and make even more cuts on our simple lifestyle. This is how it used to be not so long ago in the 1990s with Galia. Like many others here., she had no job, no social security to fall back on and had to resort to selling her possessions to pay for food. She doesn't like to talk about it, but I know they were close to starving many a time, which happened in many town and city areas throughout Bulgaria. Those in the villages where luckier as had their own food from their farms to rely on of course.

I don't think it will ever get to the 'starving' level whatever happens as families support each other in times of need. In the village that would certainly be the case with our close friends there who would also 'help us out' food wise. We could survive financially if we moved out into a village where generations had lived on almost nothing other than their working on the land, wits and total practical way of life.

If there is one thing I have found out since living here in Bulgaria, it is that town and city living is far more expensive that village life. That is entirely due to the barrage of advertising in the totally business based cities and town environments. The seeds of materialism have been sown and the only escape is out of town, but then the invasion of the television is still very much a threat, even out of town.

The answer ot the original question can now be answered - How do I survive on so little money? Simple I live the lifestyle of a Bulgarian.

Image via Wikipedia

EU Funds to Bulgaria to be Suspended?

Corruption in Bulgaria is ripe and is blatantly apparent to anyone with any sense. The main topic of conversation right now is the accusation of funds from the EU being sapped by many Bulgarian companies, no doubt with a mafia links.

The current Government have set a ‘Parliamentary Commission of the Fight against Corruption’ to try and counteract the situation. If it is not resolved the EU have threatened to suspend all funds to Bulgaria.

The latest action by this Commission is to draw up a list of the top 100 beneficiary companies who have received the most funds from the EU. This was announced only yesterday. It was also stated that there would be a reassurance that there would be no action against the companies listed but they have to be publicly accountable for the funds.

There had already been at least ten violations of funds under the various programs of investment from EU. One violation that is currently being investigated were the EU funds that were assigned to developing the road Bulgarian road infrastructure.

It remains whether this is just a Bulgarian political publicity stunt as many people I talk to feel that the politician are just as much involved with the creaming of funds but they have to make a public stand against it.

If EU funds are suspended, to the vast majority of Bulgarians it won’t make a blind bit of difference; to the corrupted contingent of Bulgaria it will. So what do you think the best form of action is?