site.btaBulgaria's Border Police Director Confers with Frontex Chief

Emerging from a meeting with European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) Executive Director Hans Leijtens on Tuesday, the Director of the Interior Ministry's Border Police General Directorate, Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, said that the migration pressure on Bulgaria has dropped by 70%. "Our goal is to maintain this rate. The Frontex teams on our border with Turkiye have tripled compared to 2023 and will remain in place at least until the end of this year. A decision to extend this mission is taken every three months," Zlatanov said.

He commented on reports in German media saying that a Syrian national suspected of carrying out a knife attack in the German city of Solingen on August 23 was to be deported to Bulgaria last year. Zlatanov said that Bulgaria had received a request to take back the man under the Dublin Regulation because it was the country of his original entry into the European Union. "Our country gave its consent at the time," he noted, adding that the Syrian could not be located by the German and Austrian authorities.

He said that a very careful assessment is made when interviewing migrants in Bulgaria, and if any suspicions arise, these people get handed over to other services. "Bulgaria does not overlook these facts," the Border Police director stressed, noting that "we are currently at the peak of the migration wave". "Bulgaria has excellent cooperation with Frontex," Zlatanov added.

Leijtens highlighted the crucial importance of cooperation at the national level and the need to join efforts. He praised the Bulgarian Border Police for the efforts it is making to secure the common European borders. The most important thing is to keep working together, the Frontex Executive Director said, and thanked Bulgaria for its cooperation.