Случайно попадам на това отворено писмо, от човек който косвено познавам като що-годе свестна бизнес-личност в БГ и на който му е проблемно да се задържи в БГ, поради факта че правителството и по-специално полицейския ни апарат е ре?ил офанзивно преди уж критичната дата – 17.дек.2004 да покаже на Европейската комисия колко добре се справяме с граничния контрол, бил той съвсем произволен и за статистически цели… нема начин час от израстването ни, но вече чувам за втори случай в който свободни граждани без особени провинения в БГ биват недопускани за най-малката и дребнава причина, причинена от остарялото ни законодателство. Да живеей бат Бойко Борисовия и бандата му…
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Hon. Mr. Demetrios Kourkoulas
Representative of the EU in Bulgaria – Head of Mission
Hon. Ambassadors of the EU in Bulgaria
EU Embassies in Bulgaria.
Sofia, 29/11/2004
Re: Serious Harassment of the small EU citizens located in Bulgaria by the Bulgarian Government and legal system.
Dear Sirs
I am a Greek businessman who has been active in Bulgaria as of the year 2000. I own the company EuroCapital Finance AD, with paid capital of 220 000 leva, the company EuroCapital Real Estate AD with paid capital of 270 000 leva, and I participate in the activities of 17 other companies in Bulgaria that have invested more than 10 million euro in the country. My company (www.eurocapital.bg) is the main consulting firm for Greek investments in Bulgaria and has handled new investments of around 25 million euro within the period 2002-2004, all from Greek investors.
I am also the Managing Director of Bulgarian Information Technologies AD, a company listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, main market.
With the acceptance of the EU, Bulgaria has established a strange legal system for foreigners in Bulgaria. Under the provisions of this system, we have the possibility to receive permission to stay in Bulgaria only after we hire 10 Bulgarian employees. Alternative-ly we can hire ourselves as employees of our company. Companies that offer services, like my company, do not need 10 people and thus, we do not hire that many employees. Also, in the event that I prefer to hire myself as Managing Director of my company, I may get permission from the Labour Ministry only under very difficult conditions. I tried to receive permission last year (2003) from the Police. The Police (RDVR) at 40 Maria Louisa Boulevard received the documents and asked me to visit the Bulgarian Consulate in Athens to apply for a D-type visa in order to get the permission card. I went to the Consulate and I found out that I do not qualify because my company employs fewer than 10 Bulgarians.
To date and for the past five years, I have lived in Bulgaria as a tourist. I comply with all the laws, I pay taxes, I own property, I have my apartment and my office and all my business activity is established in this country. I have no activities in Greece and elsewhere.
As of November 25, 2004, the police measures became much stricter than before. During the weekend of November 26 to 28, I went to Thessaloniki, Greece, as a speaker at an investment conference, and I tried to return through the Giusevo border with FYR Macedonia. I arrived at the police point at 4pm on Sunday. The police calculated my entries to Bulgaria on my passport and informed me that I had no right to enter Bulgaria because I had stayed for a period longer than 90 days within the past six months in Bulgaria. They offered me alternatively to go to Athens and get a visa for only 10 days for Bulgaria or wait for a visa at the border – if the Interior Ministry approved my request. I decided to do the border visa and I applied at the huge cost of 140 euro (application plus visa). After the expiry of this visa I am obliged to leave Bulgaria for a minimum period of six months.
Only after five hours of patience at this very inconvenient border place, I received a 10-day visa. I was also informed categorically by the police that I must leave the country within the visa limits, otherwise I would be found by the police (at the office or the apartment that I own) and expelled from Bulgaria. The police told me that they had returned to their home countries some Irish and British pensioners who have bought houses (each person who buys a house must have a company in Bulgaria) for the same reason. I was also informed that the Border Police in Kulata had returned dozens of Greeks with small companies and similar problem to ours.
The situation is critical and the EU countries must resolve this problem before the December 17 Meeting. Our EU countries receive hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians legally and offer them the possibility of working and living within a Western environment, while we – as EU citizens in Bulgaria – are unable to get permission for stay and work without having a staff of 10. And on top of this, the Bulgarian Government is not flexible about finding alternative ways, but obliges us to go out of the country through third world level measures and treatment. The issue is very serious and concerns dozens of people who live properly, peacefully and according to the laws in Bulgaria. I am in a critical situation while all my investment business and my activity is in Bulgaria and I cannot take my home, my company and my properties and move them to Greece. I have been informed that the same problem exists for other people who have similar small-size companies.
We cannot be treated like second class citizens, while in the EU the Bulgarians have all the benefits that the Western legal system has provided to them. They have arrived – most of them – as illegal immigrants and have received full legal rights in the EU countries. To the contrary we have arrived legally in Bulgaria and we have established proper activities, we paid taxes and we have been established under the laws of Bulgaria, which continually change.
As representatives of the EU, please do everything possible in order to protect EU citizens from this unbelievable harassment. Please protect your citizens’ interests before the December 17 summit where the decision for the acceptance of Bulgaria as a future member will be discussed.