site.btaDiplomats and Experts Discuss Migration Crisisat Sofia Conference

Diplomats and Experts Discuss Migration Crisis at Sofia Conference

Sofia, June 15 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Diplomatic Institute Director Tanya Mihailova said on Wednesday that the EU needs a serious debate on migration which can help formulate an integrated European migration policy taking account of the current geopolitical reality. Mihailova was speaking at an international conference in Sofia, entitled "The Migration Crisis: Long-Term Implications for the EU." The event was organized by the Diplomatic Institute and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Deputy Foreign Minister Roumen Alexandrov said that until the beginning of this year the EU was unable to tackle the migration challenge. The early months of 2016 saw some developments which produced visible results, Alexandrov said, pointing to the agreement between the EU and Turkey.

Early on, Bulgaria was one of the countries which stressed the need to revise EU migration and asylum legislation, he recalled. Sofia has repeatedly insisted that the problems and the solutions concerning refugees fleeing war should be separated from those which concern people who are simply looking for a better place to live in, he said.

Deputy Interior Minister Filip Gounev laid particular emphasis on security. He sees lasting changes in several aspects of the security policy, including border control. In Bulgaria and other frontline countries, over 20 per cent of the internal security budget is spent on border protection, Gounev said.

According to him, it is difficult or even impossible to identify each and every migrant, and terrorist organizations take advantage of both legal and illegal migration routes. Migration may not be linked to crime over the short term, but the lack of social inclusion may produce such an effect over the long term, Gounev warned.

Another risk to security is the use of the migration crisis as an element of the hybrid war aimed to destabilize Europe, he said.

Milenko Nikic, Adviser to Serbian Labour Minister Aleksandar Vulin, underscored the role of NGOs in this situation, noting that governments cannot cope without them.

Umut Pamuk, who works with Turkey's Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants, said that some of the main problems confronting refugees are related to employment and education. Pamuk explained that despite some initiatives, these people cannot receive work permits, so they are employed illegally, but very often local employers do not want to hire foreigners.