Ahead of a letter from Dutch social affairs minister Donner, his expected proposal to keep the Dutch labour market closed after January 1 2009 for Bulgarian and Romanian workers has kept local media in The Netherlands busy for the past week.

National Radio 1 even sent a reporter to Sofia to try to find out if Bulgarians were eagerly awaiting opportunities to move to the Dutch land of milk and honey.

No matter who the reporter talked to and where ever he looked, the answer was more or less the same: no interest. He did, however, find one window cleaner who said that he would consider moving if he would be able to earn at least 2500 to 3000 euro.
"Those who might consider moving even have expectations," the reporter concluded with barely hidden surprise.

Meanwhile, "experts" consulted by Radio 1 mostly focused on a small number of arguments in which whatever Bulgarian or Romanian workers wanted played little or no role.

The first argument was that of the "flood" of Polish workers that arrived in The Netherlands after the labour marked was opened to them.
The second argument was that of illegal labour bureaus operating currently within The Netherlands. The Dutch have, very nobly, set themselves the task to protect Bulgarian and Romanian workers from falling prey to these practices, not by eradicating the bureaux, but by excluding Bulgarians and Romanians from the labour market.

Through all the discussions, no one seemed to have a clue that Bulgaria is not Romania and the two have nothing in common with Poland several years ago. And no one could be bothered with what Bulgarians or Romanians actually would do.

In late 1999, a "progressive" centre for political debate in Amsterdam organised a conference on the topic of Eastern Europe 10 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
During the conference, for convenience's sake, the Balkans and the Baltics were lumped together and discussed as one.

When in a discussion at the conference, I asked when there would be a conference on Western Europe 10 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, lumping together Italy and Scandinavia, the director of said-centre looked at me as if she saw water burn.

Whatever Donner's letter holds will not mean anything for all those Bulgarians who have no interest whatsoever to try their luck in the Dutch land of plenty.