site.btaInterior Minister Calls for Stopping Insinuations of Illegal Migrants Returning to Bulgaria

Minister of Interior Kalin Stoyanov, who participated in a report-analysis on last year's activities of the General Directorate Border Police here on Monday, urged people to stop insinuating of illegal migrants returning to Bulgaria.

Stoyanov said: "Let's stop with the attempts to suggest that some kind of apocalypse with refugee returns is imminent, let's stop speculating on issues related to the Dublin Regulation and readmission." The Minister said that Bulgaria has not accepted additional conditions related to refugees from Afghanistan and Syria around its admission to Schengen by air and sea.

The Minister reported that the country has sufficient capacity to accommodate the person for whom it is responsible. In case Bulgaria's asylum system experiences pressure, Bulgaria will be able to ask the EU for help under the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Stoyanov said that the report-analysis proves that the Border Police is successfully handling illegal migration. He stated that his Ministry has achieved its goal of discouraging migrants from trying to enter Bulgaria illegally, "increased control and in-depth cooperation" would make crossing the border difficult.