Romania and Bulgaria: Flights of fancy
The Daily Mail: Flying by the seat of their rants?
Some of the British media are at war against the European Union – and it’s often said that the first casualty of war is the truth.
Yesterday on New Year’s eve, the Daily Mail reported:
‘Sold Out! Flights and buses full as Romanians and Bulgarians head for the UK’
Asserted the Daily Mail:
‘Almost all flights from Romania to England are full – even though one airline doubled the number to meet demand – with one-way tickets selling for up to £3,000 each.’
The Daily Mail reported that up to 29 million Bulgarians and Romanians were now entitled to work in the UK as restrictions were lifted on 1 January 2014. Up until then, Romanians and Bulgarians could only work in the UK if they were self-employed or had a specific job offer. The Mail claimed that most flights from these countries to the UK were now full and one-way tickets were selling for up to £3,000 each (the newspaper failed to say which airline was charging this price.)
And yet, I was easily able to book flights from Bulgaria and Romania to London today and every day for the next week and beyond with EasyJet, WizzAir and for most days with British Airways at usual prices for this time time of year. A media spokesman for EasyJet told me that the traffic from Romania and Bulgaria was ‘nothing out of the normal’. The company issued a statement to say:
‘We haven’t seen any evidence of an increase to our passenger numbers for January 2014 on these routes compared to previous years.’
The press office for Wizz Air also told me:
‘The claims of the Daily Mail that we doubled our flights and that no low fares are available on UK routes to/from Bulgaria and Romania are complete rubbish.
‘Our Christmas peak travel is in line with previous years and similar to other peak travel periods (summer and Easter) on all our almost 300 routes.’
The Mail’s assertion that buses from Bulgaria to London are fully booked until 9th January is also untrue. I spoke with the main bus operator, Balkan Horn, who told me there were seats available for the bus this Friday (3 January) from Sofia to London – which only runs once a week and takes 4o hours. A spokeswoman for the company said:
‘Most of the passengers are returning back to the UK following the Christmas break. We actually have less bookings than this time last year.’
In Romania, Daniel Micu, CEO of Atlassib, the country’s main bus operator, was reported by the Romanian newspaper, Gandu, as saying that there was no ‘exodus of Romanians’ and no requirements to provide additional bus seats. Contrary to the Mails’ story, I was today able to book a seat on the next bus from Bucharest to London on Tuesday 7 January for €157.
This morning (1st January) to greet the first plane from Romania to Luton Airport was MP Keith Vaz. The Wizzair plane W63701, contrary to the Daily Mail reports, was only three-quarters full. Most of the Romanians on board were returning to their jobs and homes in the UK after the Christmas break. Just a handful of Romanian passengers were coming to England to seek work.
The Guardian newspaper reported Keith Vaz as saying:
‘Just on conversations we’ve had with people who have come here, a lot of them are returning people. They already work in Britain and they’re coming back off holiday, so they are not people coming here for the first time. We’ve seen no evidence of people who have rushed out and bought tickets in order to arrive because it’s 1 January.’
Also at Luton Airport this morning was former MP, Roger Casale, now chairman of the New Europeans group. He told me:
‘It was claimed by many that “hordes” of Bulgarians and Romanians would arrive in the UK as soon as the transitional controls were lifted. I went to meet the first plane into the UK from Romania which arrived at 7.23 am this morning at Luton Airport. The plane had a capacity of 180 but only 140 seats were filled.
‘All the passengers I spoke to already live and work in the UK and were returning from their Christmas break. There was one exception, Viktor, who was coming to Britain to find work and not to claim benefits. The only “horde” at Luton airport was the crowd of journalists and photographers who swamped Viktor for his story.
‘Gasping for breath after his countless interviews I was able to meet Viktor, welcome him to Britain and offer him a coffee – “Just a glass of water please”, he replied, and brandishing a £ 20 note he then said ” But if you don’t mind I’ll pay for it myself!”
Tickets still available (as of today 1 January 2014):
Sofia to London: seats still available
Bucharest to London: seats still available
Daily Mail:‘Sold Out! Flights to UK from Romania and Bulgaria full.’ And the truth? http://t.co/pMhNK2jSc4#EU#Romania#Bulgaria
— Jon Danzig (@Jon_Danzig) January 1, 2014
Update:13 reasons why I am taking the Daily Mail to the Press Complaints Commission. Pls RT http://t.co/4o0Cf848e5 pic.twitter.com/dCrqiSrqrE
— Jon Danzig (@Jon_Danzig) January 20, 2014
Please re-Tweet and share on Facebook.
Click to read my blog on the British Influence website:
13 reasons why I am taking the Daily Mail to the Press Complaints Commission
See Jon Danzig’s other articles about this story:
- Daily Mail: Trick or Truth? You Decide
- Buses, planes, Bulgarians, Romanians and The Daily Mail
- All stories about this investigation
Useful links:
- New Europeans – Promoting the value of EU citizenship in the UK
- British Influence – Campaigning for British leadership in Europe
- Gândul Newspaper in Romania – article about Daily Mail
Other articles by Jon Danzig:
John Danzing about your 12 January 2014 at 9:05 am post:
There is low unemployment in Romania compared with Britain because we do not have a lot of immigrants coming in Romania and also because more than 4 million romanians left the country searching for work. If all this people go back from spain, italy, france etc the unemployment rate will be huge. The only thing is that romanian people adapt easily and they can go around europe searching for work. The life in Bucharest maybe is better that the one in Manchester but Bucharest is a capital of a country. Manchester is just a city. Even if the romanian economy will rise by 100 % in the next 10 years will still be under country’s in north part of europe.
Regardind the comunist era and the nazis you are absolutely right. It is hard to readapt to a new way of life.
Regarding the british economy and how is related to european workers. Hm. I think that without europeans workers Britain will suffer badly because they do not have the proper qualified people. They are all about smiling and amator job performance. But they can still live isolated, speak like they are in the 19th century and have a stick in their asses. It is not a problem for the rest of the world who is moving away from this very conservative, posh and arrogant ways of life. Here I am reffering to english people who live in southern part of England. The northeners, welsh, irish and scots are really nice people.
Princess of Kent said one time that the english are the most stupid people in europe. I tend to believe this after 4 years living in England
Sorry for my poor writting skills. I work in IT do not need a lot of writting.
Thanks
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Hello Jon. It seems that you submitted your post to /r/Europeans. Unfortunately, it was caught by the spam filter and had to be manually approved.
http://www.reddit.com/r/europeans/comments/1u640n/romania_and_bulgaria_flights_of_fancy/
In order to compensate for the delay, I submitted your update here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/europeans/comments/1v7d84/buses_planes_bulgarians_romanians_and_the_daily/
Ted Collins your commentary betrays the truth and simply promotes tabloid newspapers nonsensical, childish and incorrect portrayal of Romania and Bulgaria.
Most people in Romania and Bulgaria are not going anywhere: they’re staying home and building their countries. Haven’t you read my article above that, contrary to what the Daily Mail wants you to believe, planes and buses coming to the UK are not full of Romanians and Bulgarians migrating here?
Furthermore, Romania is considered a ‘tiger economy’ in Europe. Last month The Economist ran an article called, ‘What Britain forgets: Romania is booming’. As the article stated:
‘Unemployment there is relatively low (and lower than in Britain). Its budget deficit puts Britain to shame. The government is in the midst of liberalising the economy, opening up new sectors (most notably, energy and telecoms) to competition and investment. Economic growth is at 4.1%. Wages are rising fast. Adjusting for prices, Bucharest’s GDP per capita is above the EU average.
‘Indeed, the average Bucharest resident is comfortably better off than the average resident of Manchester.’
Furthermore, reports The Economist, as a direct benefit of EU membership, British firms now based in Romania are achieving annual sales of €6.3 billion. For businesses based in Britain, Romania is currently worth about €30 billion in turnover and almost €4 billion in profit. Indeed, several British businesses have received multi-million pound subsidies from the Romanian state – not something that’s widely reported in the UK.
See: http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2013/12/what-britain-forgets
Both Romania and Bulgaria are two of the poorest countries in the EU. They suffered decades of hardship and oppression under the Nazi and Communist regimes, from which they are only now beginning to emerge and recover. After joining the EU, Bulgaria enjoyed an envious growth rate of 6.2%, but the worldwide economic crash of 2008 put paid to that. The country, with a population less than Greater London, is trying hard to recover under severe economic and political pressures. Dragomir Stoynev, Bulgaria’s Minister for the Economy, said last month,’In the last quarter of 2013 the real growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) is 1.5% on annual basis, which has not happened for years.’
It’s in our interests to welcome Romania and Bulgaria – and their citizens – back into the European family after losing them behind an Iron Curtain. Better to have them in our Union – European – rather than Soviet. This is a long-term project, on which the peace, security and prosperity of our continent depends.
Frankly, I am ashamed by some of the shrill, baseless and baldly racist comments being made by sections of our media and British society about Romania and Bulgaria. This reflects badly on us, not them.
I’m BullRoMaRiaN
I’m PolishedVanIan
I’m commmmmminnnnng
I’m HungAry
FEEEEEEEEEED MEEEEEE
Unlike the third world, our main source of immigration by a mile, these two EU member states’ real poverty is their extremely low birth rate fuelling negative growth and ageing local population. It must be a disaster for these poor lands at the outskirts of Europe to lose young talent and working people where there aren’t many of them left back home. The story goes on about ghost towns either completely abandoned or overwhelmed by roma who apparantly thrive in their own way irreversibly changing the demographic outlook of these lands.
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I was laughing at the comments from different journalists telling that the British Airways are full because the of the “exodus to UK”, the thing is they are always full. The British Airways area manager said in a interview(from couple of months ago) that for the London-Bucharest route the scale of occupation is way above the BA average witch is 75%.The reason for it is quite simple: connection flights! BA and American Airlines control more the 65% of the North American air traffic, not to mention the unique routes to Australia or Caribbean.
That’s not all, as after I lose my job UKBA decided to kick my wife out of the country (she is from Ukraine married with an Italian) as they said we were no more exercising treaty rights, at the end of the story I have pumped thousand of my Euros into UK economy with the result of being used by….to recap if you have money to spend well come along and spend them here, but if one day you may need a little help, well we will kick you out.
Welcome to England.
If you don’t work in the UK you will die by starvation within a couple of weeks, or if you wish you can start sleeping rough on the street.
Been living and working in the UK since 2007 found that the benefit system is not so keen to help you even if you are in genuine trouble. With a medical certificate *stating unfit for work* I have been refused ESA benefit, I have been mocked at work and then kicked out because I have tinnitus.
Nobody is there for you stop believing fair tales, and if you go abroad you will be treated as an immigrant no matter from which country are you coming from.
And if you still don’t believe me please check this link out
http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2013/jul/italian-chef-brings-discrimination-case-quintin-kynaston-academy-school
Jon Danzig’s article sets out to show that the Daily Mail has used sensationalist headlines to report a story and then made up a load of “facts” to support this headline. And then the comments go a bit weird with claims he’s pro-Europe and been paid to write this article. The comment “I bet I could find another 10 stating high prices” – you probably could but this doesn’t mean you’ve achieved anything other than doing more research than the Mail journalist did. “And once again you find a stat that supports the argument” – the passage that refers to isn’t a “stat” clearly indicating that the writer don’t know what a stat is. Mike’s story about subletting the flat might be true because hundreds of british people do it and regularly get caught. Don’t think it’s something done just by people from certain EU countries (of which North Korea isn’t one). I suppose what I’m saying is that there’s an irony in someone pointing out all the lies the DM tells and people countering this by quoting more lies, mistruths and unverifiable information. Daily Mail Island was made for you.
@Louis Walker: “No-one expects 29 million Romanians/Bulgarians to come here.” FYI the combined population of Romania and Bulgaria is 27 million.
You hit the Nail on the Head Adrian.
Jon, you are totally correct that Immigrants cannot just arrive and claim Benefits from Day one.
Have the correct details of the story where the Mayor said half the Romanian Village would be going to UK in 2014. This is the correct version translated from Romanian.
The Daily Mail sent one of their journalists to a poor village, Berini, in Romania. The mail then quoted the local mayor and a Roma (Gypsy) man as saying that half of the town’s population would move to the UK. The Roma Man, according to the Mail, also said they’d move to the UK for our generous state benefits, and were looking forward to living in council housing. When the Romanians themselves got to hear of the story, the Romanian press sent one of their people to the village. The mayor and Romany there were insistent that they had been misquoted. The Roma Man said that there were in fact only 200 Roma families in the town, of which only 50 were prepared to go to the UK. He said their preferred destination was France. Moreover, it appears that the journo from the Mail had been highly unethical in the way she pursued her investigation. She had asked the local people if they would be prepared to work for her in England. She told them she could give them a job, and provide them with housing, a place at the local school and free medical assurance. If that’s the case, then it’s not hard to see why many would say they would jump at the chance to go to Britain. In short, the Mail asked some highly leading questions, and then altered the answers to follow the paper’s editorial line about immigration. It seems to me that Cameron is deliberately pandering to xenophobia in order to win a bit more popularity, now that 51 per cent of the population, according to polls, believe that the government is only on the side of the rich. So you can expect more of this kind of rhetoric and posturing as the Tories try to attract more people away from UKIP.
These are the EU Laws concerning this.
Can anyone tell me why everyone moans about EU Migrants claiming Benefits? If the EU Law was applied to benefits by the Job Centre and Councils, there would be no benefits being paid and no housing being allocated.
No-one can claim benefits in another EU Country without a valid E303 form issued from their own Country. Under EU Law 803/2004, they are only entitled to benefits at the same rate they would receive in their own Country, no right to Housing, tax credits, nor Child benefits are payable under this Law, and after 3 Months the benefits are stopped and if they cannot provide a proof of managing to support themself they will be sent Home. This is how EU Law works and should be strictly enforced.
If Job Centres and Councils do not obey this Law they are complicit in aiding and abetting Benefit Fraud which according to Cameron is an automatic Jail sentence.
Another little known fact btw.
Theresa May signed the UK into the free movement Zone. Since 2nd December 2013 the UK became part of the EUROSUR zone which allows free movement within all EU Countries.
It is difficult for me to understand what exactly were those newspapers trying to achieve by publishing that kind of rubbish on Dec 31. Were they hoping that the British public would raise in arms on that very day, topple the government and re-enable the restrictions just before Jan 1? And they thought they can achieve such a feat just by publishing some blatant lies that are so easy to expose? Makes you wonder if they are mentally sane, in fact I cannot help but imagine them as rabid dogs, barking and choking on their own chains trying to bite somebody.
British people are not aware that Bulgarians have the highest proportion of homeownership in the world (91%) so most of them don’t need to earn much to have a normal life in Bulgaria. If some of them want to come here is to work only and not living on £50 a week in a shitty council estate like a big chunk of British people are doing for generations. The fact is that immigrants are 45% less likely to claim benefits and after 3 years in Uk are earning above the average wage so how is that cheap labour?
Ask yourself how many jobs have been outsourced to India etc? How many companies moved production to Asia and now Brazil?
Immigrants are spending 90% of their income in UK and the rest on private health care and holiday in their native country so no pressure on a doggy dentist here you see 😉
Re sending money abroad British people are famous for buying properties abroad and causing housing bubbles in many countries around the world, Bulgaria is one of them so please don’t blame Bulgarians for paying taxes for 7 years on a row (able to work as Self-employed since 2007) and not even entitled of getting a penny of your Benefits for all that time but you didn’t know that because the UK Propaganda Machine is obviously working which is what Mr. Danzig is trying to tell you people!
John: well done.
Public policy should be informed by the truth and thank you for the truth you provide.
We may have heard rather more truth this week from Victor Spiersau than from so-called leaders closer to home and who have no excuse for not knowing better than they choose to be.
It is also the truth that we the British are more likely to be able to sustain the UK as a united beacon of civilisation and prosperity if, instead of contriving grievance in part as an attempted distraction from shortcomings at home, we invest our efforts into making the EU and, indeed, the European Convention on Human Rights more of a success. We have so much in our past from which we can reasonably take pride and so much, potentially in future, to contribute and from which we can benefit.
Dirk Hazell
Co-Chairman, British Committee, EPP
Thank you for this post. I’m a Bulgarian who lives in the Netherlands for more than four years now and here there was absolutely no hysteria about “the hoards of Bulmanians” (just some concerns, of course) and I’m appalled by the populism and tabloidism in British politics, society and media. On the Dutch news they didn’t even mention these days that Bulgarians and Romanians can now work freely in the country, unlike all the British news, MPs at the airport and other ridiculousnesses..
In all fairness, though, there were reports last year about Bulgarian and Romanian Roma people coming to the Netherlands, claiming they have no means to support themselves and receiving 6-700 Euros a month in social benefits. However, these people were brought here by organised criminal groups who immediately returned them back home and started collecting their benefits. So this is a problem of the Dutch social system, which gives money all too easily (without first checking if the person actually lives here, etc) and of organised crime, which should be investigated and prosecuted. Those Roma people certainly could not come here on their own and know how to exploit the social system.
I’m also surprised at the fear that the East European workers will work for less money than the locals (so, will take the locals’ jobs) – prices in London (or Amsterdam) are so high, that you can’t afford to work for much less than the local people. If your salary in Bulgaria was 500 Euros a month, this doesn’t mean that you will want to work for 600 in Amsterdam or London – there’s just no way to survive on such a salary. And if you do get paid this much – then you’re being exploited by an employer, which is again a crime and the employer should be prosecuted, not the worker!
Lastly, here in The Netherlands I see plenty of Dutch people living on social benefits for years because they get, let’s say, 1000-1200 Euros a month for doing nothing and if they find a job they’ll be getting 15-1600 Euros a month for working 40 hours a week. While a Bulgarian worker would gladly do a dirty job for 1500 Euros a month, a Dutch person would find this below his/her level and would rather stay on benefits. So the unqualified labour migrants who come here actually do the job that the locals wouldn’t be caught dead doing!
Mike, thank you for your contribution. Of course any criminal activity is unacceptable, but you have cited anecdotal stories of crime that I cannot easily check. Also, you have stated that there are ‘thousands’ of frauds committed every day. Can you provide a valid source for that statement? The government has consistently calculated that benefit fraud in this country amounts to less than 1% of all claims.
Also, contrary to popular belief and media misconception, EU migrants cannot just arrive here and automatically claim benefits. It’s much more complicated and much more difficult, with strict criteria needing to be passed first.
To be eligible for benefits, EEA migrants here have to pass an‘Habitual Residence Test’. It’s complicated and each case is judged on its merits. Just arriving in the UK doesn’t give a migrant any rights. The migrant has to prove that they are actually residing in the UK with the intention of permanently settling here. This takes time to achieve; however, habitual residency status might be lost in a day if, for example, a migrant leaves the UK with the intention of settling in another country. If they then return here, they may have to start all over again in proving ‘Habitual Residency’.
EEA nationals enjoy a right to reside in the UK for up to three months as long as they do not become an unreasonable burden on the social assistance system. They can then only legally stay longer if they are jobseekers; workers; self-employed; students; self-sufficient; permanent residents (i.e. legally here for more than five years); or family members of one of the above.
Research has shown that EU migrants here from east and central Europe in the past ten years have made a considerable net contribution to government funds. Rather than being a burden to our society, these hard working migrants are actually helping to reduce our national debt.
The Daily Mail has a long history of publishing untruths as does the Express and Mr Danzig is correct to expose these blatant lies.
I am and always have been a supporter of closer EU integration, nevertheless I am concerned that other EU citizens can come to Britain and take advantage of our welfare system but it is the hordes of non EU immigrants that pose the far greater problem.
Perhaps they are stringent tests in order to claim benefits but I have first hand experience of teaching new arrivals to this country from all parts of the world – Democratic Republic Congo; Afghanistan; Iran; Kurdistan; North Korea; Georgia; Pakistan; Somalia; Algeria – and all of these were (and probably still are) receiving benefits.
Many of them break the law – driving without licences or insurance; make bogus benefit claims – example – 2 young North Koreans escape from their wretched country. They then manage to evade the Chinese authorities (who simply hand them back to thugs in Kim’s paradise) and make their way to Russia. Eventually they get to Moscow and surprisingly some organisation pays for their flight to the UK. Once here they sent northwards. This particular couple were given a flat.
Shortly afterwards, the male went to the Job Centre to say that the female was not his partner and needed her own place. Subsequently she was given a small flat and also money for furniture and decoration. The man then moved in with her and relet his flat to someone else. They also worked delivering pizza to supplement their benefits.
The above is but just on e example of the thousands that frauds that are carried out daily.
The problem is nit the immigrants per se – it is the benefit system. By the way as we all know the benefit system has finite resources. This means that because we pay out too much we have had to extend the retiring age for women – so my wife who turned 60 in July 2013 now has to wait until she is 64 and a couple of months before she will receive her state pension.
Typical Daily Mail article full of the usual rubbish. One way ticket selling up to 3,000 each ? You, guys need to have your head examined. This is a ticket to London , not to the moon. Almost all flight are full ? Where is the news here ? At this time of the year all the students and workers who spent Xmas and the New Year in Bulgaria and Romania are going back to Britain.
The Mail has given the impression that something is different this year to last year and his simply isn’t true. The following statements in the Mail are not based on facts, but are untruthful and scaremongering:
‘Almost all flights from Romania to England are full – even though one airline doubled the number to meet demand – with one-way tickets selling for up to £3,000 each.
‘And all tickets for seats on buses leaving the Bulgarian capital of Sofia until January 9 have been snapped up.’
I will have more to write about the bus tickets tomorrow.
I have not yet had time to check the veracity of other statements in the Mail’s article, but I suspect too that they are also incorrect.
I am happy to share evidence as we find it; but I am not an organisation, and this is a hobby, not a paid job. So all this takes time and energy.
The fact that you could book airline flights from Romania and Bulgaria on the 1st January and the subsequent week is conclusive proof of precisely nothing. Looking at the section of the Daily Mail article you’re basing your attacks on, I can see no references to dates.
There are references to almost all flights being full….not all of them. It also mentions two BA flights from Sofia to London Heathrow next Sunday and Monday each being full, each carrying 152 passengers. The headline ‘’Sold Out!’’ is in fact true for a number of flights. Your blog hasn’t disproved anything.
But having tracked down the full article, there are many references to Romanians and Bulgarians making enquiries about the UK’s benefits system, access to council housing, child tax credits, using the NHS to give birth and so on. There are also stories about agencies in the two countries offering advice on the UK’s welfare system rather than filling job vacancies. Did you investigate any of these claims?!
The evidence against the EU is indeed overwhelming. The British people were prepared to tolerate the EU as an abstract concept up to a few years ago (even though they’ve been utterly deceived by the political class about the EU‘s true intentions). But now the reality of being displaced from their jobs by cheap east European labour is hitting home.
As is the effect on key public services, housing, wages, living standards, employment opportunities, specially for the young, and the sheer unrelenting deluge of wave after wave of EU immigrants in their towns and cities. Yes, let’s keep it polite…and let’s focus on the evidence and the facts. (I notice you failed to comment on the catastrophic decline in Europe’s competitiveness and share of world trade/GDP).
You’re attributing more to my blog about this issue than I wrote. My blog simply pointed out that the Daily Mail misled its readers about most flights coming here from Romania and Bulgaria being full. I made no comment in my article about whether many Romanians and Bulgarians were anticipated to come here during January.
If the evidence against the European Union is so powerful, why does the Mail need to write inaccurate stories?
I am not paid by anyone to write my stories about the European Union, and even if I was, I would never agree to write something I don’t passionately believe in. Also, I’m a democrat: if there is a referendum, and the country votes to leave the European Union, so be it. But in the meantime, I hope we can have a polite and edifying debate. I am horrified that people should stoop to personal attacks, rather than respectfully challenging arguments and evidence.
I tried replying to your comment on the Huffington Post but the moderators there obviously believe you should not be bothered with an opposing view. Your comment on HP, like this blog, is nonsense. No-one expects 29 million Romanians/Bulgarians to come here. And of those that are anticipated to come, not all of them were expected to come here early in the New Year. The period before Christmas, and on through January, is known to be a low volume period for airlines. You’ve based your whole blog on a falsehood….a straw man of your own creation. You should be aware that anti-EU sentiment is growing by the day in the UK. And also across Europe. As you would know if you had taken time off from writing your own ’flights of fancy’ to look at European opinion polls, including the EU’s own Eurobarometer. That anti-EU sentiment is based on the reality of the failed institution’s negative effect on people’s lives. And also the destruction of European economies by the EU Customs Union. Check out the catastrophic decline in the EU’s share of global GDP over the last 30 years and forecasts by the IMF and OECD of the continuation (and acceleration) in that decline. Are you one of the paid bloggers hired by the EU to try and counter opposition with propaganda on social media and blog sites ?!
And once again you find a stat that supports the argument you support not an overall view of situation europe wide.
It’s a myth that EU law gives all EU citizens an unconditional right to reside freely in the UK or another Member State.
Second, it is a myth that EU law means that EU migrants are automatically entitled to claim benefits in the UK or another Member State. In fact, EU rules require migrants to meet stringent requirements before they can be eligible either for means tested “social assistance” benefits like housing benefit and income support or for social security benefits like child benefit, invalidity benefit or contribution-based Jobseekers’ Allowance.
In any event, most migrants here from other EU countries come to work, and a much smaller proportion claim benefits than the native population. There is no evidence of there being any serious problem of ‘benefit tourism’ in this country, and so far despite many requests to do so, the UK government has failed to provide any proof of the existence of such a problem. If you have such evidence, please share it here. Several reports have demonstrated that EU migrants here make a substantial net contribution to government funds.
This year it was reported that there were more British people claiming unemployment benefit in Germany than Polish people claiming it in the UK.
This is the problem with all journalists, they look for facts to fit the story a not the facts that create the story. You have 2 sources stating cheap fares and I bet I could find another 10 stating high prices. Same with stating the 1 exeption viktor he was here for a job and not benefits but there are not many jobs and with 37 people applying for each job viktor will no doubt end up on benefits, and he will need financial help while he will be looking for a job he needs a house which will be provided or paid for by local authority untill he has a job, this house will now ot be available to a british person.you can bleat on about how great immigration is and that the british move to other countries the big difference is the british that move abroard have money and have retired or have been offered a job already.
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