site.btaBulgaria Calls for Mandatory Migrants' Relocation within EU

Bulgaria Calls for Mandatory Migrants' Relocation within EU

September 22 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgaria calls for mandatory relocation of migrants within the EU. "We will support the relocation of 120,000 migrants within the EU, and we believe that this commitment should be assumed on a mandatory basis because otherwise its implementation will be torpedoed," Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova told reporters on her way into an extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting here on Tuesday.

Bulgaria has no reason to reconsider its position and will reaffirm its view that the allocations provide a basis for better control, Buchvarova said. "This is a temporary solution. A lasting solution should be sought to end the crisis."

The Deputy PM said the proposed relocation formula is fair and balanced.

"We have a proposal that a mechanism be devised to coordinate the individual Member States' efforts in dealing with the current problem," she said, adding that such a mechanism should ensure that no country would take action that would cause problems in the other countries. She would not elaborate.

"The most important thing is to seek a solution where the problem has originated - and at the same time provide security along the EU external border," Buchvarova said.

Bulgaria wants the total number of persons eligible for relocation to remain unchanged at 120,000, the Interior Minister specified.