site.btaBulgaria Not Faced with Crisis over Accommodating Third-Country Refugees

The Council of Ministers said on its Facebook page on Sunday that Bulgaria is not faced with a crisis over accommodating third-country refugees. There are no new refugee centres under construction.

"It is a well-known disinformation ploy to mention data and numbers which have nothing to do with a specific conversation, but are impressive enough to confuse people and instil fears," the cabinet said. "Bulgaria's success with full Schengen membership by air and sea has disappointed many people outside the government who work for foreign interests and do not want Bulgarians to live freely and enjoy high living standards as Europeans. Those people persist in spreading fake news about refugees that Austria can return to Bulgaria under the Dublin Regulation."

It is fake news that some 5,000, or 6,000, or 10,000, or 15,000 or even 20,000 refugees will enter en masse some new refugee camps that Bulgaria will allegedly build, the Council of Ministers said.

Sofia has received requests under the Dublin Regulation not just from Austria but from all EU Member States since 2007 when Bulgaria joined the EU, the cabinet said. It is this country's obligation to respond to the requests within the set timeframe. The answer can be either that Bulgaria accepts, or does not accept, such responsibility. Of all the requests made every year, the persons whom Bulgaria has refused to admit or whose transfer deadlines have expired are counted out. In addition, foreigners have the right to appeal against a transfer to Bulgaria and the appeal is successful in many cases. It is often the case that refugees in Austria who are subject to a return procedure to Bulgaria migrate to other countries during that procedure. Any tables of data (e.g. on enquiries, correspondence and procedures) announced before the transfers take place do not reflect the actual number of readmitted refugees, the Council of Ministers said.

In the whole of 2023, the requested incoming transfers from Austria to Bulgaria were 193, while the actual transfers were 113. Any claims to the contrary are malicious propaganda and an expression of political ambitions running against the Bulgarian national interest, the Council of Ministers said.