site.btaUPDATED No Increased Migrant Pressure in Bulgaria - Interior Minister
There is no increase of the migration pressure on Bulgaria, Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov said during hearing in Parliament Wednesday. "On the contrary, there is a steady downward trend," he added.
Stoyanov was asked by MP Ivan Ivanov (Socialist) on incidents with migrants in Sofia.
"Since the beginning of this year, we have prevented 5,200 trespassing attempts at the Bulgarian-Turkish, down from 15,600 in the same period last year. The difference is three times," Stoyanov said.
The number of illegal migrants detained in the interior of the country since the beginning of the year is 260, down from 1,260 in 2023.
The Minister reminded the MPs of a recent episode in which Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova complained that Bulgaria is becoming "a punitive colony for murderers, rapists and money launderers" from Afghanistan and Syria, and that Germany was sending back here convicted felons - while the fact was that Germany had sent back to Bulgaria Bulgarian citizens who had committed various crimes in Germany, were sentenced and had served time for them.
Stoyanov said that the situation on the Bulgarian-Turkish border and the illegal migration there "has never been calmer" and credited for that "the strengthening the first line of the border with 30% more officers, the stepped up efforts against organized crime groups for illegal migration, as well as the intensified dialogue with Turkiye".
He explained that there has been a steady decrease in migrant pressure since September of last year, and they have achieved the goal of preventing illegal migrants from taking the Bulgarian route to Western Europe because the Bulgarian-Turkish border has become too hard to cross.
/MY/
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