BULGARIA’S INTERIOR MINISTER: THE BEST OPTION FOR BULGARIA WOULD BE MIGRATION FLOW TO BE RESTRICTED

The most serious risks Bulgaria may face at the moment would be if the migrants and the organisers of their flows try to make a route though the country, as an alternative to the closed western Balkans route, Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Roumyana Bachvarova said speaking in an interview for BNT morning programme “The Day Begins” on 9th of March.

She added that account had been taken of this risk and Bulgaria was taking measures to enhance possibilities to prevent such attempts of illegal and organized entry. Bachvarova said that the decision by Serbia to close the borders would not change the situation in Bulgaria, because every day the Bulgarian authorities detained migrants trying to cross the border into Serbia. She said that because of the work of the Bulgarian border authorities, not only migrants but every one across Europe was aware that Bulgaria strictly applied the measure for guarding the borders.

She commented that the situation at Greece-Macedonia border presented a risk of humanitarian crisis but according to her, the recent decisions of the European Union to halt illegal entries would be a strong signal to those who were intending to set off. She said that there was an agreement between EU and Turkey and this should lead to decrease in the migrant flows.

Currently, the realistic goal was to reduce refugee flows, Bachvarova said. The best option was the flow to be restricted and the refugees to remain in the territory of Turkey because the environment there was closest to their own: including language; being closer to the border with their own country and if there was good development in the situation in Syria it would be much easier for them to get back home. The very process of integration in Turkey would be easier for them, Bachvarova explained.

She said that according to data of a report by Europol, about  90% of the migrants arriving in Europe had their journey facilitated by a criminal organisation.

Bachvarova also commented the proposed changes to the Ministry of Interior law and the discontent by the trade unions in relation to these changes. She added that measures were envisaged aiming at achieving a positive result in respect of the organization of the work in MoI and the spending of funds, which would have a positive effect on the MoI staff. She thanked the trade unions for postponing the intended protests for 16th of March which would give an opportunity to meet a day earlier with representatives of parties and discuss the measures for reforms in the MoI.

Bachvarova said that MoI did not have sufficient resources and did not have the necessary budget to provide additional human resources. The training of officers takes a long time, she noted and added that there weren’t enough police officers in the country, that more staff was needed, but this meant more funds as well.