[fatuna]

Also interesting, the "Bulgaren fraude" was instigated by Dutch 'entrepreneurs'. They would go to Bulgaria, organize bus trips to the Netherlands, and help people setup their handouts. For a fee, of course. I'm not sure if those people ever went to jail...

[throwaway8689]

Don't think you're putting Bulgaria in a good light here. No reasonable person would think its legitimate to get a bus to another country, sign up for welfare, and get the bus home again. Those Bulgarians are not idiots, they are willing participants in a scam.

[yolo3000]

Not from Bulgaria, but why do you generalise? Do you realise that a country has people from all walks of life, from simple farmers to distinguished scientists, explorers, people of culture, people who have done and will do remarkable things. Do you think the dutch are better than the bulgarians? People should not even think in these terms.

[avar]

The net median income in The Netherlands is around 6.5x of that in Bulgaria[1], or €2,834 for .nl, €389 for .bg. If we extrapolate that in reverse it would be like .nl having a median monthly net of around €16k, or a yearly of just under €200k.

As a non-Dutchie living in The Netherlands, I don't think the Dutch are inherently are better than Bulgarians.

I'd bet good money that if there was another EU country with a similar social safety net where the median salary was €200k (with correspondingly generous welfare) that a certain segment of the Dutch population would be flocking to it to defraud that government.

I don't understand why it's controversial to point out those basic realities among countries in the EEA. Nobody's claiming that there's a unique genetic link between Bulgarians and fraud, just that the economic incentives involved are all going one way.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_...

[yolo3000]

No one here was pointing out the basic realities, he was saying that because some people in Bulgaria did some form of fraud, it paints Bulgaria in a bad light. Why? What's the relation between Bulgarians who do fraud, from the ones who don't. Anyway, have a good day

[throwaway8689]

I replied to a comment specifically about Bulgaria and Nederlands. Had it been the other way around, I would have reversed the labels.

"People should not even think in these terms." Thanks for telling us all how we are allowed to think.

[yolo3000]

You can be a bigot if you want, I was just saying that in general people should not be.

[ZeroGravitas]

Presumably they are targetting the poorest and most desperate Bulgarians, so I'm not sure why this reflects badly on Bulgaria? Do we blame the whole country when someone gets caught as a drug mule? Or do we reflect that they are many ways a victim of the crime?