site.btaIllegal Migrant Pressure Down by 70% in January-September y/y

Illegal migrant pressure on Bulgaria has decreased by 70% in the first nine months of 2024 compared with a year earlier, Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said before Wednesday's meeting of the Council of Ministers.

He briefed the ministers and the media on his meetings in Brussels last week. Glavchev attended the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit and the European Council meeting between October 16-18.

Glavchev told the European Council that Bulgaria had seen a decrease in migrant pressure, with fewer than 50,000 attempted illegal border crossings in the first nine months of 2024, compared with 157,000 a year earlier. Twice as many persons were detained this year. The Prime Minister said the EU leaders were satisfied with the results.

The Interior Ministry Wednesday said that 2,087 people were detained while crossing the border into Bulgaria and 2,728 were detained while exiting the country in the first nine months of the year. Those detained without registration in the automated identification system are 1,944.

Regarding the Middle East, Glavchev said in Brussels that Bulgaria is in favour of de-escalation, restraint and diplomatic means.

Regarding Ukraine, the Prime Minister said Bulgaria will support Kyiv as and when necessary, taking into account the National Assembly resolutions. "President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's victory plan was presented to us, but we, and a number of other countries, had no mandate to talk on the subject; the MPs must have a say first," he said.