Regarding your comment about Bulgaria being "corrupt and xenophobic", you are half right.

The incorrect part is "xenophobic".

I have been to Bulgaria three times for 2-weeks or more each time, and have traveled extensively throughout the country each time.

Bulgaria is the most cosmopolitan country in southeastern Europe. The population is very open to foreigners, with a highly educated (especially in scientific and technical fields), literate, and multi-lingual population in urban areas and smaller towns as well.

And unlike some other former Communist block states, the church there exerts minimal influence over government policy, meaning that, in terms of many social issues like domestic partnership legislation, Bulgaria is more similar to Germany and France than to neighbors like Romania, Serbia, or Poland.

Given the residential and resort overbuilding along the Black Sea and near many of the international-class ski resort towns, Bulgaria has probably erred on the side of being TOO friendly to foreign investors.

As to the level of corruption relative to the countries in its area, I cannot speak. However, the Bulgarian population is increasingly calling for reforms to "clean house" of domestic corruption, something that is largely absent in other emerging European states afflicted with the same legacy of Communist rule.

Martin,

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