site.btaEC Is Processing Bulgaria's Request for Another EUR 50 Mln in Emergency Refugee Aid

EC Is Processing Bulgaria's Request for Another EUR 50 Mln in Emergency Refugee Aid

Brussels/Kapitan Andreevo border crossing, December 5 (BTA) - "At no point during talks with the European Commission, Bulgaria has agreed the establishment of new accommodation centres for refugees. At every stage we have provided full and detailed information about how negotiations go and what the money will be spent on," said outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Roumyana Buchvarova at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing on the Bulgarian-Turkish border on Monday.

Buchvarova reacted strongly to a statement by Vice President Iliana Yotova, saying that Yotova had served another dose of lies, half-truths and misinterpretation of certain facts.

The government has made a commitment to build three new open type accommodation centres for refugees as part of an agreement with the European Commission in exchange for money for border controls of Bulgaria's southern land and sea borders, said Yotova on bTV.

Buchvarova said that the authorities are working on the construction of three crisis refugee accommodation centres to avoid situations such as the one in Harmanli last week, the residents of the centre rioted. The money allocated for the three sites add up to 1.7 million euro, said Buchvarova. They will accommodate a total of 500 trailers and possibly tents of the Bulgarian Red Cross, she added. One of the sites will be on the territory of former barracks around Lessovo border crossing and places will be considered for the other two. Rules in these places will be stricter but no as strict as in the centres of the Interior Ministry. For the conversion of the centre in Pustrogor into a closed type facility 1.15 million euro will be set aside.

Interior Minister Buchvarova said that turning refugee centres into closed-type facilities would be a fatal and irreversible mistake.

She said that Bulgaria received information through diplomatic channels about three or four foreign persons who are suspected of preparations of a terrorist act. These persons have been identified.

A spokesperson for the European Commission on Monday said that the European Commission is processing a request by Bulgaria for another 50 million euro in emergency assistance for refugees

After a EU informal meeting in Bratislava in September the Commission granted 101 million euro in emergency assistance to Bulgaria. Some 82.2 million euro have been allocated to provide support for addressing the migratory pressure and enhancing the capacity of integrated surveillance communication and information systems and border management in Bulgaria

On December 2, Bulgaria requested the remaining 18.9 million euro from the 101 million euro. They will be used for the establishment of several crisis accommodation centres which could be used both for first reception and open type accommodating centres depending on the needs.

BTA's Brussels correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov has contributed to the story.