The Student Room Group

Unrest in Bulgaria, 6th man dies by self immolation!?!

Dear TRS,

I've recently read that Bulgaria, an EU state, has been protesting due to the inevitable circumstances of poverty.

A quote from the source states:

"At the end of February a father of five in the southern village of Radnewo said he was driven to self-immolation by unemployment and poverty. In March, an unemployed blacksmith threw gasoline over himself outside the presidential palace in the capital of Sofia. Security guards extinguished the flames and he survived."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/man-dies-in-sixth-bulgarian-self-immolation-in-less-than-a-month-a-890444.html

Furthermore a short youtube video of a Bulgarian news reporter also defends this articles claim:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEcOrOrzfd8

My question to TSR is simple. As Bulgaria is an EU state, it should get the same benefits as any other EU state (practicably) - How desperate do you believe the situation is in Bulgaria, do you believe, due to these conditions that they should have been allowed to join the EU in the first place, and finally as Bulgaria is in actual fact part of the EU, what do you think the EU parliament, where most of the laws and regulations are made, could do to cease this what seems to me an extreme form of protest and despair.

I appreciate this is a tough topic to answer, and my apologies to anybody from Bulgaria who may feel upset realising this dreadful news.

You're replies would be invaluable.

Thanks.
Reply 1
This is what my opinion is:

Like many countries, the root of the problem is corruption from mafias controlling monopolies and what not. It happens everywhere, only that some countries have enough resources to keep the population generally happy while doing their dirty business.
The other difference is, in these better off countries, anyone who gets caught is usually is jailed and is slowly replaced by another whereas in poorer countries, the corrupt are exposed and nothing happens to them anyway.

The biggest aim of the protests was to take down the monopoly businesses abusing their power by raising prices however it got turned into political protests by all the parties not in power to weaken the current government as there will be elections soon. The plan pretty much worked, the only problem is, there is literally no one left to vote for, as they all can't do crap.
Reply 2
Original post by dada55
This is what my opinion is:

Like many countries, the root of the problem is corruption from mafias controlling monopolies and what not. It happens everywhere, only that some countries have enough resources to keep the population generally happy while doing their dirty business.
The other difference is, in these better off countries, anyone who gets caught is usually is jailed and is slowly replaced by another whereas in poorer countries, the corrupt are exposed and nothing happens to them anyway.

The biggest aim of the protests was to take down the monopoly businesses abusing their power by raising prices however it got turned into political protests by all the parties not in power to weaken the current government as there will be elections soon. The plan pretty much worked, the only problem is, there is literally no one left to vote for, as they all can't do crap.


Fantastic reply. I appreciate you're honesty.
It should only get in return what it gives to the EU.

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