site.btaBulgaria Will Seek Reconsideration of EU Migrant Quotas

Bulgaria Will Seek Reconsideration of EU Migrant Quotas

Sofia, June 9 (BTA) - Bulgaria will insist that migrant quotas
proposed by the European Commission reflect the capacity and
geographic location of each country and that they should be
considerably lower for countries which as external borders of
the EU are under intense migratory pressure.

This is laid out in a position adopted Monday by the EU Affairs
Council which will be presented formally at an upcoming EU
Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg on June 15-16.

Under a scheme for the relocation of 40,000 migrants from Italy
and Greece Bulgaria has to receive 572 migrants. The European
Commission will allocate 6,000 euro per refugee to the host
country under the Asylum,. Migration and Integration Fund. Under
a separate scheme 20,000 migrants will be resettled over the
next two years, of which Bulgaria is set to receive 216 people.
The scheme will make available a total of 50 million euro.

The position states that the quotas are disproportionate as they
fail to consider a country's specifics. While Bulgaria supports
the relocation and commends EC's efforts to establish an
effective mechanism for solidarity, it thinks the Commission's
proposals are imbalanced and the mechanism for setting
individual quotas is unjust.

Bulgaria hails EC's proposals related to human trafficking and
calls for refocusing of efforts to the source countries of
migration. The Bulgarian government supports the establishment
of a point of single contact on human trafficking, as well as
the deployment of EU liaison officers on migration matters to
third countries.