Greek Cross-Border Business Exodus into Bulgaria

From Euronews

More and more companies are fleeing Greece and setting up in Bulgaria because costs there are competitively lower. To survive the austerity-driven recession of the eurozone’s weakest member, entrepreneurs are seeking refuge in the EU’s poorest country.

Our correspondent Symela Touchtidou said: “Sandanski, Petrich, Koulata, Melnik — Bulgarian cities close to the border with Greece — are receiving an increasing number of Greeks. The first wave of companies that arrived in Bulgaria from Greece started in the 1990s, driven by the euphoria of “Greek expansion in the Balkans”. Now, completely different conditions are forcing Greek companies to seek refuge beyond the borders.”

Bulgaria’s tax on businesses and individuals is the EU’s lowest, at ten percent. Corporate tax in Greece is 26 percent.

Employers can also offer lower minimum wages when they are in Bulgaria.

Hotel owner Christos Mavridopoulos sees more and more compatriots arriving. He told us: “Those who can leave do leave, new companies every day. Mostly they are desperate people. They don’t know exactly why they come here, or what their next move will be. They just want to get away from what’s happening today in Greece.”

Kostas Zervas rents a 1,000 square meter building in Petrich for 300 euros per month, as he seeks to balance the books. It would cost many times that in Greece.

Along with companies, employees move too. That would have been unthinkable ten years ago, when Greece had ambitions of leading the Balkan region’s economies.

Mechanic David Podosian said: “Unemployment, more or less, made me leave Ptolemaida and seek a living and work in another country. Here, I...