MIGRATION COMMISSIONER AVRAMOPOULOS PRAISED BULGARIA FOR GUARDING THE BORDERS WELL

European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, who is on a visit to Bulgaria on 11th of February, said he would inform his colleagues in the European Commission about the blockades at Bulgaria-Greece border.

Speaking after the meeting with Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Roumyana Buchvarova, Avramopoulos praised Bulgaria for guarding the external borders of the EU well and for respecting the human rights of migrants.

Avramopoulos said that at present the migration flows into Bulgaria were limited. “We know, however, the migration routes may change”, he added.

He praised Bulgaria for being proactive and having developed its plan for preparedness in the event of increased migration pressure towards Bulgaria and Europe. He noted that in order to support Bulgaria, Europe provided 91 million euro within the frame of internal affairs fund for the period 2014-2020. “We work in close cooperation with the countries from the Western Balkans and Turkey in order to better manage the situation”, he said.

Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister Roumyana Bachvarova said that Bulgaria did not intend to change the way it controlled its borders, and added that Bulgarian border control was perhaps the most strictly implemented of any European country.

“What is more, Bulgaria not only exercises control upon entry but also conducted additional interviews to establish the identities of those who entered the country”, Bachvarova explained.

“Of course, we do not manage to 100% deal with the whole flow, therefore our other efforts are focused at tackling illegal migrants,” Buchvarova said. “The country managed to do so quite effectively: we detain the persons who entered illegally in the interior of the country and at the exits towards Serbia”, she added.

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