site.btaEuropean Commission Awards Extra EUR 6.1 Mln for Migration Management

European Commission Awards Extra EUR 6.1 Mln for Migration Management

Brussels, February 6 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The European Commission said on Monday that it has awarded an additional 6.1 million euro in emergency funding to support migration management in Bulgaria.

Of the total, 3.6 million euro will be provided to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) to enhance the protection of unaccompanied children, carry out voluntary returns and provide reintegration support as well as assistance, information and counselling to migrants. The remaining 2.5 million euro will be provided to IOM to complement the actions already implemented by the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior in order to improve migration management and the Bulgarian asylum system.

The award decisions complement the EU funding granted to Bulgaria since October 2016, which amounted to a total of 149 million euro under AMIF and the Internal Security Fund (ISF). The emergency funding comes on top of the 91 million euro already allocated to Bulgaria under the national programmes for 2014-2020.