site.bta German Chancellor: Bulgaria Can Request Creation of Hotspot for Migrants

German Chancellor: Bulgaria Can Request Creation of Hotspot for Migrants

Brussels, September 24 (BTA ) -  At an informal meeting on
migration held here Wednesday, the EU  heads of state and
government agreed to assist frontline Member  States, such as
Italy and Greece, in the establishment of hotspots -
registration and reception centres that  will ensure a correct
identification of migrants, processing of  protection seekers'
requests, as well as relocation and returns.
    
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference on
Thursday morning that Bulgaria as a frontline Member State can
also request the establishment of such a hotspot and the
corresponding financial aid.

In her words, Bulgaria has pointed out that it is not part of
the Schengen area but has a common border with Turkey, and that
 it is subjected to huge migration pressure. "We said [at the
meeting] that if Bulgaria wishes to set up such a hotspot, it is
 going to get the same kind of support from the European
institutions and agencies as Greece and Italy. However, it is
not as if we wanted to impose something on Bulgaria," Merkel 
specified. Bulgaria itself said that it has a problem and asked
why such a hotspot is not going to be established in the
country, so it is quite understandable that it should argue 
long these lines, she added.

European Commission Spokesperson Natasha Bertaud explained that
the hotspots planned to be established for coping with the
migrant flows in Italy and Greece are not detention or reception
 centres, but support teams set up by the EU institutions
responsible for migration and border control.

The EU Member States with hotspots will get teams sent to work
where the migrant influx is. They will cooperate with the
countries' authorities to decide if the migrants should be
granted asylum or repatriated, the spokesperson said.

The hotspots will process the information on the 160,000
migrants due for relocation in the EU. Officers and national
experts from the other EU countries sent by Frontex, the
European Asylum Support Office and Europol will help with the
identification, fingerprinting and registration of the migrants
entering the EU. They will also prepare and organize the
repatriation of those who do not qualify for asylum in the EU.

PM Borissov

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said that Bulgaria already does
have hotspots - the refugee centres, and that migrants are
fingerprinted and registered at the border checkpoints.
Addressing a conference in Sofia on the challenges arising from
the migrant crisis, organized by the Institute for Strategies
and Analyses, he explained Bulgaria's position and the proposals
 he set forth at the Informal Meeting of Heads of State or
Government on Wednesday. The first proposal is that safe zones
be created on the territory of Syria and Libya where people can
be close to their homes and be able to return. "The problem in
Syria cannot be solved unless our partners, the United States
and Russia, are involved in these talks and take
responsibility," Borissov stated.

He even suggested that the EU should state clearly at the
special meeting [convened by the UN Secretary General on
September 30, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, to
discuss global concerns about migration] that the Syria problem
is generating losses of the order of billions of euro in Europe
and is changing the demographics, and frontline countries and
countries along the external EU border, such as Bulgaria, with
weaker economies, find it impossible to cope. Borissov noted
that due to the conflicts, millions of potential migrants could
be expected in the coming years.

Eva Paunova MEP (GERB)

Bulgaria has not asked to be a hotspot or a distribution centre,
 Paunova told journalists, commenting on Merkel's statement. She
 stressed that this issue was not raised at the meetings she
attended on Wednesday. 

Deputy PM Kuneva

Speaking at a news conference in Smolyan, Deputy PM Meglena
Kuneva said that the opening of a hotspot is possible, only if
the country makes a request to this effect. This can happen if
the inflow of migrants is so big that the country cannot cope by
 its own administrative capacity and if the migration pressure
is as big as in Greece and Italy. This has not happened here
yet, she noted. Regarding the infringement procedures launched
against Bulgaria, Kuneva said that Bulgaria will cope quickly
with the problem and will avoid sanctions. The Asylum Act is
pending second-reading discussions and it is a matter of days to
 send a notification letter that the problem has been resoled in
 connection with one of the procedures, said Kuneva.
 
BTA's Brussels Correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov contributed to
this story.