This blogs position on migration within the European Union is for open borders among all members states and to let people work and settle where they want. Although the numbers were larger than expected, and there have been some negatives, I believe the influx of Central and Eastern Europeans to Britain in the last two or three years has been a net benefit. Last year I welcomed the Polish plumber, and other posts have been similarly positive. Other members states have recognised the benefits too and are opening their borders to Eastern European workers: eight states so far, from an initial three.
But I recognise that there are potential downsides, and that the proposed accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU from January 2007 pose some thorny problems. No wonder some UK ministers are getting cold feet - and not just the Home Secretary. So in the interests of balance, I publish below a comment posted today on this weblog by Sam Took. I don't know who he/she is, but the post is worthy of a wider audience. Comments welcome.
WHY BULGARIA'S ACCESSION BRINGS SHAME ON US ALL
Recent comments about the accession of Eastern European states and
the preoccupation with low paid jobs shows an astonishing naivety what
Bulgaria is really about.
It is now widely recognised that what were seen as the last minute
obstacles to Bulgaria's accession to the European Union are concerns
about its ability to deal with crime and corruption. What politicians
will not admit is that the problems could not possibly have been solved
within the time allowed for accession . In many respects Bulgaria has
to walk miles and yet it will be admitted to full membership after
having taken, what amounts to only a first faltering step. I cringe
when I hear politicians praising Bulgaria's efforts to put its house in
order. Those of us who have lived and worked in Bulgaria know that
there is a deep malaise here. The fact is that the Government in Sofia
( and its predecessor ) has lied continuously to Brussels, made
promises and given undertakings which it has neither the wit nor the
will to keep. Consider these things:-
1. Corruption is endemic. Prosecutions are very rare and convictions
much rarer. There are only a couple of instances in which officials
have received a prison sentence. In most cases even when caught
redhanded, the perpetrators do not even lose their jobs. Many of the
most serious culprits are post-holders and cannot therefore be
dismissed. In recent times the Government has set up an information
campaign inviting the public to inform on corrupt officials by
channeling complaints through a confidential hotline. Under the legal
system it appears impossible for any Bulgarian official to be convicted
on the strength of such a tipoff. Bulgaria has a distinguished history
of paying lip service to anti-corruption measures; they have attended
every international conference, adopted every protocol and signed up to
every initiative but the problem is as deeply-rooted as ever. The
current 'anti-corruption campaign' will be as successful as its
predecessors and appears to be just a PR stunt for the benefit of the
European Commission.
2. Every bit of institutional foreign funding, including the
pre-accession funding, which has ever reached Bulgaria has been
plundered by corrupt politicians and officials. Sofia has promised that
there will be "full transparency and accountability" of all future
European funding. Such promises have been made in the past and have
always been broken.
3. Organised crime in Bulgaria really is 'organised'.The Government
in Sofia admits the existence of powerful overlords ( they were
prepared to call it an oligarchy ) who have prospered since the fall of
communism in what the Commission itself called "a climate of impunity
". They exercise a huge amount of influence over public figures and own
large parts of the domestic economy. They are so deeply entrenched that
they are de facto the Establishment and needless to say their position
is unaffected by changes in the Administration. Bulgaria has a 100
percent record of failure in prosecuting organised crime and there is
no possibility that this will change any time soon. Sofia will offer
instead disingenuous apologies and say that it should not be judged on
the outcome of any one particular case as one prosecution after another
falls over, entirely predictably, like dominoes.
4. A real war on crime would need a free press and this it does not
truly have in Bulgaria. It is not free of political interference and it
is certainly not free of the oligarchs. Investigative journalists ( and
there have been a few ) have been assassinated and their offices broken
into and filing cabinets stolen. Also corrupt figures in public life
have been protected by having news agencies prosecuted for making
express or implied accusations about them, without of course any regard
to whether the allegations are true or not. This is possible because
the law of defamation is a criminal matter in Bulgaria and not just a
civil one as it is in the UK.
5. Bulgaria is a marshalling yard for crimes which are aimed at
Western Europe. These include the trafficking of children and young
women, enforced labour, enforced prostitution, drug and tobacco
smuggling, the forging of Euro notes, bank and credit card fraud and
the theft of high-end luxury cars. The proceeds of crime are easily
laundered in Bulgaria and the proceeds invested on an industrial scale,
typically these days in tourism, building and all kinds of new property.
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