site.btaBorder Police Director Zlatanov Visits Austria

The Director of Bulgaria's Border Police Chief Directorate, Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, held a working meeting with the head of the Austrian Department of Operational Border Management and Aliens Police, Major General Berthold Huberger, in Vienna at the invitation of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday.

The meeting discussed the main measures the two countries are implementing in their efforts to tackle illegal migration and the progress of the Bulgarian border police. Chief Commissioner Zlatanov reiterated the commitment of the Bulgarian authorities to secure the EU external border with Turkiye and prevent secondary movements towards Central and Western Europe. He expressed a firm position for lifting the veto on Bulgaria and Romania and the readiness for the two countries to join the Schengen area.

Statistical data were presented and an offer was made to the Austrian side to exchange information on persons apprehended in Austria who had said that they had transited through Bulgaria. In this way, the Bulgarian authorities will be able to take the necessary action to achieve more transparency on the actual border situation. Thus, trends in migration processes will be highlighted, allowing timely changes in countering irregular migration.