site.btaBulgarian Politicians Strongly Object to EC's Immigrants Relocation Proposal

Bulgarian Politicians Strongly Object to EC's Immigrants Relocation Proposal

Sofia/Brussels, May 29 (BTA) - Representatives of the Patriotic
Front and the Reformist Bloc on Friday expressed strong
objections against a proposal made by the European Commission on
Thursday about the relocation of illegal immigrants in the EU
member states, according to which Bulgaria is supposed to
receive an additional 788 immigrants, including 572 from Italy
and Greece. Some politicians even suspected lobbying on the part
of European Commissioners Federica Mogherini and Dimitris
Avramopoulos.

Svetoslav Malinov MEP, whose party, Democrats for Strong
Bulgaria, is a member of the Reformist Bloc, told Bulgarian
journalists in Brussels that over the course of 18 months
between 2012 and 2014 Bulgaria recorded a 500 per cent increase
in the flow of immigrants into its territory, so now the country
should insist on being excluded from the European Commission's
scheme for the relocation of immigrants.

Malinov said: "The proposal of the European Commission is very
unfair for Bulgaria. If we accept it, I cannot imagine how we
will be able in the future to get rid of that formula which I
find unfair and which has been misapplied."

According to Malinov, the emergency situation which the European
Commission sees in Greece and Italy was also observed in
Bulgaria. "Bulgaria's interests have not been protected, but
Greek and Italian interests have been asserted," Malinov
complained. He believes that Bulgaria has every right to demand
a resettlement of the immigrants it has received. Since Bulgaria
is in an emergency situation, albeit unrecognized by the
European Commission, the country can insist on being excluded
from the relocation and resettlement scheme, at least
temporarily, he said.

Malinov explained that Bulgaria went through an emergency
situation already in earlier years, but did not ask for formal
recognition of this fact, because it was unaware that EU law
provided for such a possibility, which is now being used by
Greece and Italy. Instead of receiving benefits for the
emergency it has handled, Bulgaria is asked to receive more
refugees, he said. He noted that EU Migration Commissioner
Dimitris Avramopoulos, who is one of the two driving forces
behind the European Commission's proposal, is Greek, and the
other driving force, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs
Federica Mogherini, is Italian.

Malinov said that Bulgaria used to be in the same group of
countries as Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta, which have been
affected worse by increased immigration. "How come that this
informal alliance of the worst affected nations broke apart? I
do not like this at all," he said.

Atanas Atanassov, who chairs the Internal Security and Public
Order Committee in the Bulgarian Parliament, said the European
Commission's proposal is a temporary solution which can have
unfair effects over the long term.

Atanassov noted that the situation along Bulgaria's southern
land border is relatively calm thanks to the country's good
diplomatic relations with its neighbour Turkey, which is
currently home to 2 million refugees. Commenting on the leading
role of European Commissioners Avramopoulos and Mogherini in
devising the relocation scheme, Atanassov said: "It seems that
someone is making decisions while being in a
conflict-of-interest situation."

The Patriotic Front also strongly objected to Brussels' proposal
about the relocation of immigrants, saying that the scheme is
highly detrimental to Bulgaria. Reading out a declaration on
behalf of the Patriotic Front in Parliament, the coalition's
Co-Chair Krassimir Karakachanov said that the 788 new immigrants
which Bulgaria is asked to receive come in addition to
Germany's desire to return to Bulgaria more than 4,000 illegal
immigrants who were originally registered in Bulgaria but
eventually moved to Germany.

"The European Commission's proposal about the relocation of
illegal immigrants, often incorrectly referred to as 'refugees,'
is unfair and runs counter to the principle of solidarity and
Bulgaria's national interests," the lawmaker said. Instead of
treating Bulgaria as a country in an emergency situation, just
like Italy and Greece, the Commission regards it as one of the
member states which should receive more illegal immigrants, he
noted.

The proposal implies a risk for the Bulgarian national budget,
Karakachanov warned. He argued that Bulgaria has the lowest
living standards and the lowest economic output in the EU, which
is why it is particularly difficult for the country to support
the illegal immigrants already staying in its territory. "In
2014 alone, Bulgaria gave asylum to 7,020 illegal immigrants,
compared with only 3,250 in Greece. As a proportion of the
country's population, immigrants in Bulgaria are a lot more than
in other member states. Considering the rate per one million
population, the people who have been granted asylum status in
Bulgaria are 2.76 times the number in Greece and 2.87 times the
number in Italy," Karakachanov estimated.

The Patriotic Front urged the Bulgarian government and
parliament to reject the European Commission's proposal and to
insist that Bulgaria should be recognized as a country in an
emergency situation, a status which has been offered to Italy
and Greece.

European Commission Chief Spokesperson Margaritis Schinas told a
news conference that Bulgaria is not the only EU member state
that can claim that it was in an emergency regarding the
migration flow. "Other member states were in the same position,"
Schinas said.

Another spokesperson for the Commission, Natasha Bertaud,
explained that in the case of Greece and Italy the Commission
has activated the emergency response mechanism regarding the
flow of migrants and their relocation within the EU, because the
Commission has registered a sudden influx which will likely
continue. An increase of over 270 per cent is registered in
Italy and over 150 per cent in Greece. The number of migrants
above which the situation will be deemed as an emergency has not
yet been determined. This definition is expected to be adopted
by this year's end, she said.

"Our proposal is looking at sudden influxes of people in time
and not in numbers. There are lots of countries in the EU that
do have very high numbers of asylum applications. Bulgaria is
not alone there - look at Germany, Sweden - there are very high
numbers of asylum applications there," Bertaud noted.

The EC does not exclude the possibility that other emergency
situations, in addition to Greece and Italy, could happen in the
future or have already happened, which is why this mechanism
could be activated in other countries, she explained.

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