site.bta EC: Violence Is Never the Answer to Refugee Crisis

EC: Violence Is Never the Answer to Refugee Crisis

Brussels, October 20 (BTA Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Violence is never the answer to the refugee or any other crisis, when people are crossing borders, European Commission (EC) Deputy Chief Spokesperson Mina Andreeva said here during a Tuesday news conference. Answering a question about last week's incident near the Bulgarian town of Sredets, when a migrant was killed by a ricocheted warning shot fired by a border police officer, Andreeva explained that there is still an investigation underway in order to establish the facts.

"We now have to work to ensure that there is no violence at our external borders and to step up their management," she added.

Andreeva noted the need for applying Turkey's bilateral agreements for readmission with Bulgaria and Greece. According to her, the EU's visa liberalization for Turkish nationals is linked to the readmission process.

EC Spokesperson Natasha Bertaud further explained that the visa liberalization's aim would be to start with business people and then expand to other categories once trust has been built.