Bulgarian PM, EU top leaders meet in Sofia to discuss migration issues

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, EC President Ursula von der Layen and European Council President Charles Michel held a tripartite meeting in Sofia on March 3. Earlier, they were taken by helicopter over the area of the Bulgarian-Greek and Bulgarian-Turkish borders.

The meeting went on for an hour and a half.

The three discussed the situation at the Turkish-Greek border.

The Prime Minister informed them about the measures Bulgaria is taking to limit migration flow to the EU's external borders.

The focus of the discussion was last night's meeting between Prime Minister Borissov and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. They also talked about how pan-European solutions could be found in response to the crisis in the region. The Prime Minister has repeatedly emphasized that centres outside the EU should be set up to care for refugees.

Charles Michel said that they exchanged views at European level. And we have found once again that EU Member States need to act together to be more effective at the international level. We need to be united and have a vision for the future. The meeting today has helped us better understand the common challenges we face. Again, I thank for the excellent cooperation, you can count on us and our cooperation, he said.

Thank you that on March 3rd, the National Liberation Day, the EU top leaders came to share this holiday with the Bulgarians. What we have agreed is that we continue with all our will to fight for the good neighbourly relations, understanding, peaceful and amicable resolution of the conflicts in the region. We are convinced that it is only with this understanding that we can solve the migration crisis, and not only. We are willing and patient, we want to live in peace in the region, PM Borissov said.

The talks between the three will continue over the next few days.

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Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov held talks in Ankara on Monday evening, March 2, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss opportunities for overcoming the tension caused by the increased migrant flow from Turkey to the EU in recent days. The two gave a joint news conference after the meeting,

Speaking at the conference, the Bulgarian PM welcomed Turkey's desire to find a peaceful solution together with Russia this Thursday, so that the deadly conflict in Syria can be resolved diplomatically.

Borissov thanked Turkey for observing the agreement with the EU concerning the Bulgarian-Turkish border. "This allows Bulgarian citizens to sleep peacefully. Therefore we reconfirmed this commitment,

"I made a lot of efforts for holding a trilateral meeting in Sofia in a larger format, maybe we would have succeeded because I always relied on the wisdom of my colleagues and the president. Just at that time, they received information about migrants killed (at the Greek border),

Meanwhile, President Erdogan was ready to come to Sofia on Friday. However, his unwillingness to sit at the same table with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis dampened my desire to have such a meeting. My invitation, however, is still open," Borissov said.

The Bulgarian PM expressed his belief that sooner or later, such meeting should be held with the European Commission, the European Council and partners. "Maybe not everyone is ready and not everyone sees the looming huge humanitarian threat," Borissov said.

In his statement, Erdogan said that Turkey will not continue to take care of the refugees because of the EU's failure to comply with the terms of the 2016 Agreement. He added it was no longer about money. However, the Bulgarian PM hopes to meet with the European institutions and Turkey.

President Erdogan noted the burden of over 4,000,000 refugees on Turkey and said his country was observing its agreement with the EU. He expressed regret that Turkey’s expectations for the EU to share this burden were not met.

"They promised to give Turkey 6 billion euro, but did they keep this promise? No. Now they are promising to give us 1 billion euro. Who are you fooling? We don't want this money anymore," said President Erdogan. Turkey, which so far has spent 40 billion, will find money, he added. “No one has the right to mock the dignity of Turkey,” he said and added that EU applies double standards.

"We warned that if the EU does not support us in sharing this burden, we will open the borders," Erdogan said, adding that Turkey has met all obligations of the framework agreement.

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