Objectives

Bulgaria entered the European Union on January 01st, 2007 after almost 20 years of transition, which completely transformed the country. Both people and authorities were preparing themselves for the big change that was expected to come with the accession. It is hard to say who was ready and to what extent. What is sure is that along with the rising Euro-skepticism throughout the whole Europe, there were plenty of populist voices in the country, screaming that this is the next mistake, Bulgaria makes in its foreign policy. Some were comparing it with the time when the country was an ally of USSR, other – of Germany. While the above is a bit abstract, one can undoubtedly divide the Bulgarians in two groups – ones that have travelled and worked abroad and other that formed their impression of the Union indirectly. There was an urgent need to reach the grass level and talk to the second group of people. The reason is that their opinion was formed by two main sources: -    the populist voices, described above and; -    news of punishments, stopped subsidies and excuses coming from Brussels. The initiative of DG JLS to organize a roadshow in all Bulgaria hit the target. The two teams of “Open Youth” animators visited 20 cities for 11 days, spreading the word of Europe to thousands of citizens with the objective of introducing them to their basic rights as citizens, not only of Bulgaria, but of the whole European Union.