site.bta Bulgaria Prepares for Shift of Migration Route towards Its Borders, No Signs Yet of Increased Migration Pressure

Bulgaria Prepares for Shift of Migration Route towards Its Borders, No Signs Yet of Increased Migration Pressure

Sofia, March 9 (BTA) - There has been no signs of increasing migration pressure on the Bulgarian border but Bulgaria is prepared - logistically, financially and personnel-wise - for such a risk, Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov told the press on his way into a meeting of the parliamentary foreign policy committee Wednesday.

"The risks exists. We have long been aware of them," said the Minister. "We have agreed with the Republic of Turkey and with our Greek colleagues for an early warning system if information appears for an increased pressure on our border," said Mitov.

He said that the thrust of efforts goes for fighting the illegal trafficking of migrants. "It is the criminal groups involved in human trafficking, who put Europe under pressure and put to a huge risk the lives of people in need of help."

Commenting the visa liberalization for Turkey and the accession negotiations, he said that there are certain standards which need to be met before that and added that the visa liberalization will allow Turkish nationals to travel, stay a certain period of time in the EU and then travel back home. It is unnecessary to create panic on the matter, he added.

Bulgaria insists that Turkey sets in place visa requirements for some high-risk countries in the Middle East and Africa in order to minimize the risks," said Mitov.

He argued that it is only natural for a situation when Turkey itself is under considerable pressure, that the EU should help Turkey - financially and logistically - so as to broaden the security zone.

In a comment on the matter, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said the early scrapping of visas for Turkish nationals carries no risk "because Turkish businesses and the intelligentsia have long been in Europe".

Аfter Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia closed their borders to illegal migrants, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said "the refugees need to be clearly told that they have to go back to Turkey and follow the due procedure for entry in the EU". He also said that Bulgarian army and gendarmerie units have been dispatched to the border and blamed the news media for doing the migrants a disservice by urging them to come to Bulgaria. "I am in favour of opening negotiating chapters [for Turkey's accession to the EU] because when you open chapters you can put conditions. We said Turkey will start the [accession] negotiations - not join the EU."

In a Bulgarian National Television interview Wednesday morning, Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova said that Bulgaria has taken into consideration the risk of a shift of the migration route away from the Western Balkans towards its borders, and is taking measures to deal with it. "The most serious risk for Bulgaria at the moment is that the migrants might try to set up a route through Bulgaria that is an alternative to the one they have used to date," said the Bulgarian Minister.

She said that Bulgaria has reckoned with this risk and is taking all necessary measures, strengthening organization- and resource-wise its capacity to prevent attempts for illegal and organized entry.

She said that the situation at the Bulgarian border remains unchanged as yet and that Bulgaria detains on a daily basis all migrants who try to sneak into Serbia.

She said that thanks to the work of the Bulgarian border authorities the migrants and everybody in Europe knows that Bulgaria enforces strict border security.

She said that there is indeed a risk of a humanitarian crisis on the Greek-Macedonian border but on the other hand the EU decisions about the migration flow and the information about the decisions of individual nations to seal their borders for illegal entries will send a strong message for those who are prepared to leave for Europe.

"The best scenario for Bulgaria is to contain the flow and keep migrants in the territory of Turkey because the conditions there, including language-wise, are closest to their own. Even their integration will be easiest in Turkey," she said.

In Brussels, European Commission (EC) Spokesperson Natasha Bertaud said the EC is aware of the risk of migrants heading for Bulgaria and other countries on their trek to Western Europe, as the Western Balkan route is shut down. "We are taking this risk into consideration," Bertaud said.

She said this is something the European Commission has always kept in mind: the risk of a fragmentation of the route. "This is why we have set up already in October the Western Balkan leaders' cooperation involving many countries and not those only
where the route was first present, that's why countries like Bulgaria and Albania have been participating every week in these video conferences the next of which will take place today."

She said that Slovenia has notified the Commission of the full resumption of enforcement of the Schengen rules, which means that migrants who have no right to enter the Schengen area, have not applied for protection or are not eligible for protection, will be denied entry.

The groups of the Socialists and Democrats, as well as ALDE, in the European Parliament, Wednesday voiced concern that shutting down the migration route across the Western Balkans will divert the flow towards Bulgaria.

In a debate in Strasbourg on the results of the Monday meeting of the EU leaders and Turkey, MEPs voiced concern by the agreements that were reached with Ankara. Most of them argued that the EU must not step down from its principles, especially in the light of the latest events in Turkey.

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BTA's Brussels correspondent Nickolay Jeliazkov has contributed to this story.