site.btaBulgaria Receives Very Few Persons Eligible for Relocation, European Commission Says

Bulgaria Receives Very Few Persons Eligible for Relocation, European Commission Says

Brussels, April 12 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia are receiving persons eligible for relocation on a very limited basis, the European Commission said on Wednesday, unveiling its latest progress report on the EU's emergency relocation and resettlement schemes.

The report says that Bulgaria and eight other EU member states (Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) have yet to start receiving persons eligible for resettlement under the agreement with Turkey. Bulgaria has so far received 29 asylum seekers from Greece while the number of applications is 310. Bulgaria has promised to receive a total of 831 applicants from Greece and has fulfilled 3 per cent of its pledge.

Not a single person has been relocated from Italy to Bulgaria, although there are 140 candidates and Bulgaria has promised to receive 471.

Overall, member states have made steady progress on relocation, but the European Commission calls for more efforts. The report warns that if member states do not increase their relocations soon, the Commission will not hesitate to make use of its powers under the EU Treaties for those which have not complied with the Council decisions, noting that the legal obligation to relocate those eligible will not cease after September.