The future of the EU and Bulgaria in it

The European Union was formally established on 1 November 1993. Today It is a

political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.
Bulgaria joined the Union in 2007 and a lot changed afterwards.
As members of the EU Bulgarian citizens can travel freely between other member
states without the need of Visa which opened many possibilities mainly in the business
sector. According to the Eurostat director Mariana Kotseva there are around 900 000
Bulgarians abroad right now. That has contributed a lot for the economic crisis
present in the country given that these people abroad are mainly in the best suited
age for working. Them choosing to leave has had an enormous impact on the
Bulgarian economy as highly qualified employees are harder to find. A lot of these
people have chosen to permanently stay in other countries or leave for a few
months, come back for a short period of time and leave again. Some of the most
preferred countries are Germany, France, Spain and the UK where the situation as
changed, but we will get into that later on.
Since a lot of the people that stayed are not as qualified or their degrees are not as
high as their immigrant counterparts, the companies in Bulgaria are paying a lot less
for similar positions as offered in the west. That results in people quitting their job,
companies struggling with finding employees and people struggling to find a job with
a decent pay. That has led to a vicious cycle that is being observed for over 10
years now.
Of course, big companies as well as the government can take advantage of founds
being given by the EU for certain projects. Unfortunately, more often than not such
founds are disappearing or the project appears to have been much cheaper than the
what has apparently been spent. Where this money goes is a different topic, but the
lack of incentive can be felt as more and more people decide to skip on it, simply by
losing trust. The situation has led to a lot of businesses going bankrupt because
someone else has become rich. That inevitably leads to people looking for
alternatives and the most common one is immigration. Yet another vicious cycle
seems to have formed. So far it does seem that the EU has not provided us with
quite as many internal benefits as we would like to have. On the plus side we get a
lot of external benefits that come with the rights to travel freely.
In some countries with free education, Bulgarians can earn a degree in a desired
field. Rarely they decide to come back to the country and work here, but it is an
opportunity. Up until the end of 2020 for example you could study in the UK for free
and receive up to 12 000 GBP per year. That could highlight a massive contrast with
the Bulgarian educational system where you actually pay in order to study, then
receive a degree that is rarely acknowledged outside our country. When compared
in such a blunt and direct way there aren’t many reasons for young and capable
people to stay in our country and strive to achieve anything.
However, things have changed since the infamous Brexit. The UK officially left the
EU and in 2021 a lot of things will change for Bulgarians where the old Kingdom is
concerned. So, what lays ahead for them could be quite a difficult process.
Bulgarians that have already obtained British citizenship will be allowed to stay,
where other if not filed the correct documents and obtained the needed status will
have to return to Bulgaria. On paper for the Bulgarian business that might seem like
a good thing as a lot of young and capable people will return, but in reality, things
might not be so bright. Many of these people have already gotten used to being paid
almost three times as they would be in our home country and would not put up with
the Bulgarian’s employer’s standards. Working for about 750 BGN can easily be
considered a joke when compared to the rates in France, the UK or Germany.
In a grander scheme there are a lot of ongoing investigations against the Bulgarian
government for misusing the already mentioned above founds provided by the EU.
Should any of these allegations be proven, there are a few ways I believe that things
could go. The first one being the government to be suspended and for us to have to
chose a new one. That however is an unlikely outcome as elections are getting
closer in time anyways. Another option would be Bulgaria to be cut of from such
projects or at the very least the amount of money provided to be cut dramatically.
That could have a devastating effect on small business as well as counties and that
still rely heavily on whatever they can get from such projects. Bankruptcy as well as
different factories shutting down completely will not be surprising at all, thus further
escalating the overall economic crisis in the country.
Should Bulgaria be kicked out of the EU, the situation with the Bulgarians abroad will
not be complicated only the UK, but all the other members of the Union as well. The
overall result could be most of them returning and by having no choice, employers
increase the currently miserable salaries. If this happens, we should be able to see
an increase in the quality of life in a substantial number of Bulgarian households.
That is of course if the government as well as private utility providers do not counter
that with increasing taxes, utility rates and even groceries which is happening
frequently throughout the last decade and even longer.
In conclusion what I would say is that where the future of the European Union as a
whole is quite safe, the future of Bulgaria is far from it. There are numerous changes
that could be made inside the country in order to ensure a positive outcome from the
many unfortunate situations that the country is currently in. However will these
changes be implanted is a question that can not be answered and will remain as a
hovering mystery surrounded by hope in the mind of the ordinary Bulgarian.