site.bta113 Protection Seekers Transferred from Austria to Bulgaria in 2023, PM Denkov Says

A total of 113 protection-seeking migrants were transferred from Austria to Bulgaria in 2023, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said at question time in the National Assembly on Friday.

He was replying to a question from Stanislav Stoyanov of the Vazrazhdane parliamentary group concerning the expected return of migrants who arrived in Austria of their own accord after registering and seeking protection in Bulgaria. Stoyanov asked about the number of such persons, for whom Bulgaria is responsible under the Dublin Regulation and whom Austria is sending back to this country.

Bulgaria was designated as the competent member state for 5,731 applications received from Austria between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, Denkov explained. The period saw applications for the transfer of only 194 persons from Austria to Bulgaria, and just 113 protection-seekers were actually transferred. According to the Prime Minister, the number of persons Bulgaria agrees to receive changes every day as individual transfer deadlines expire.

In 95% of agreed transfer cases, Austria eventually notified Bulgaria that the transfer could not be carried out within the established six-month timeframe, because the persons concerned went into hiding or were unaccounted for. The fact that 95% of the foreigners who could have been handed over from Austria to Bulgaria were unaccounted for and their transfer could not be organized, explains why there were only 113 transfers, Denkov said.

He went on to report that third country nationals and stateless people submitted 22,518 requests for international protection in Bulgaria in 2023. Meanwhile, Bulgaria received 17,900 applications from all countries implementing the Dublin Regulation and was designated as the responsible member state for 13,139 of the persons concerned. Eventually, Sofia was notified that 56% of the people were unaccounted for, and their handover could not be organized within the established six-month timeframe.