With the EU Parliamentary elections now three weeks away, Euronews is counting down by taking a road trip across the continent to speak to voters about the issues that matter to them. We are visiting towns and villages around Europe – inviting people to talk about what’s on their minds, ahead of what is a key vote at a crucial moment for the European Union.
In the next stop of the Bulgarian leg of the trip, Euronews correspondents Bryan Carter and Apostolos Staikos travel to Vidin, where they discover Bulgaria’s ghost towns.
Northwest Bulgaria is the poorest region in the EU. It is home to hundreds of so-called ‘‘ghost villages’’.
In the village of Kanitz, the population is just four. Thirty years, ago, more than 100 people lived walked these streets. Now, there are only empty, abandoned buildings.
Petko is one of the last remaining residents of the village. “A lot of people used to live here. There was a livelihood, there were animals. After the collectivisation of 1956, we had a huge collective farm. Now, there is no one here. On Mondays and Fridays, I go to the nearest village, because there is no one to talk to here,” he tells Euronews.
