Food for Thought: On UK’s Foreign Policy

Let me commence by saying that I am, by no means, an expert on international or EU politics and am, thus, not writing this article in any professional capacity.

Rather, I am writing it in my capacity of a hurt and outraged Bulgarian and EU Citizen.

I have been living in England for over five years now and have never been more surprised, confused and disgusted of its foreign policy which is, at present, outright discriminatory and unbelievably malicious.

I shall try to speak without allowing any bias to permeate my arguments or logical train of thought, difficult as it may be under the circumstances.

In fact, I shall let the reader decide whether the policies described below are discriminatory, illogical and counter- productive.

Work Permits

Bulgarian and Romanian students need to apply for a Yellow Work Permit in order to be able to work, up to a maximum of twenty hours per week (forty, during school holidays).

In order to apply for such a permit, you need to send your ORIGINAL passport to the HMRC along with some bank statements to prove that ‘you will not be a burden to the state’ AND proof that you are paying for your own private medical insurance.

Since Mr. Cameron kindly dismissed about 50% of those who had been dealing with the above, the process now takes between nine and fourteen months.

In furtherance, there is no longer any way in which you can track the progress of your application because the direct line has been done away with; there is now a single email that you can write to.

As you can imagine, about fifty people manage one email; ergo, you end up with several thousand answers which tend to always be contradicting one another….

None of the above makes ANY sense whatsoever and it is incredibly counter- productive.

Bank statements to prove that they are ‘not a burden to the state’…? Would it not have been easier to let them work so that they do not become a burden to the state? Also, how exactly are they going to become a burden to the state when they have not got the right to claim ANY sorts of benefits until they have been paying National Insurance Contributions for twelve consecutive months (which they cannot physically do as a) they can’t work without a work permit and b) NI numbers are only given out to people who have got a work permit; Catch 22, anyone?).

Furthermore, do you think that an employer will even look at a Bulgarian or Romanian student’s application when he can simply hire a Spanish or Italian one without the hassle of  work permits, etc?
Does this not fuel discrimination?

Also, the private medical insurance that students are required to take out costs £ 450 per year- you are making EU CITIZENS pay for their EU RIGHTS which they are legally entitled to.

Last but not least, do you consider it ‘normal practice’  to keep someone’s original passport for over twelve months when he has NOT been charged with committing a criminal offence?

UK’s Negative Advertising Campaign

'Don't come to Britain, it's horrible and wet': New advertising campaign aims to put Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants off a new life in the UK’

<< http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dont-come-to-britain-its-horrible-and-wet-new-advertising-campaign-aims-to-put-romanian-and-bulgarian-immigrants-off-a-new-life-in-the-uk-8469582.html >>

Initially I thought that the above was a joke of sorts; a misunderstanding.

I mean, how can a GOVERNMENT even contemplate pulling off such a publicity stunt?

I would understand it if it had employed a private company or body to do it without formally affiliating it with itself but this…

Correct me if I’m wrong but the above translates to:

‘Damn Bulgarians and Romanians, don’t come to England, we don’t like you and we don’t want your kind here.’

Also, rain? You are trying to scare people with RAIN…?

I spoke to my father yesterday and he told me that the above were already partly implemented. Two of them read:

‘How would you like a country with no summer? Don’t come to England.’

‘We, too, are in a crisis; our unemployment rate is almost 10% and our minimum salary is £ 1000. Don’t come to England.’

The minimum salary in Bulgaria is £ 200…Also, the above would have made SOME sense if they were to explain to people that they would have to pay over 90% of that £ 1000 for rent and food.

But they didn’t.

If a person could earn five times as much as he did, do you think that he would be put off by ‘bad weather’? Do English people honestly think we don’t have ‘bad weather’ as well…?

Finally, I should like to remind you of the concept of reverse psychology- if you tell someone not to do something, he will do it.

Yes, Mr. Cameron, we are now going to invade your country, take all of your jobs and claim all of your benefits.

As noted previously, I shall not comment on whether the above policies are flawed; I shall, instead, let you decide whether it is normal to treat two nations as second- class European citizens and implement hateful policies which will ultimately make English people detest the ‘zounds of Bulgarians and Romanians that are to invade the UK in 2014’.

I shall leave you with that thought as well as several videos which will, hopefully, prove that we, Bulgarians and Romanians, have a myriad of reasons to stay in our ‘second- class’ countries. As for the negative advertising campaign, just use the photo below; that’d keep us away from the UK…