Interior Minister Says There Are No Signs of Migrant Wave Moving towards Bulgaria in Wake of Gaza Conflict

UPDATED Interior Minister Says There Are No Signs of Migrant Wave Moving towards Bulgaria in Wake of Gaza Conflict

Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov speaks in Parliament as it is debating a motion for a vote of no-confidence against the government, Sofia, November 15, 2023 (BTA Photo)

Sofia,

15.11.2023 11:57 | UPDATED 15.11.2023 12:20

(BTA)

There are no signs of a migrant wave moving towards Bulgaria in the wake of the Gaza conflict, Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov said here Wednesday as Parliament is debating a motion for a vote of no-confidence against the government over its defence and national security policy. "Last spring and early summer we had some 1,500 attempts [per day] for trespassing the Bulgarian-Turkish border but thanks to our actions and beefing up security by 30%, as well as the intense dialogue with the Turkish side, in the past couple of months - September and October, which were the worst for illegal migration in past years - we had no more than 300-400 trespassing attempts at the same border [per day]," said the Minister.

He provided more statistics: Trespassing attempts at the Bulgarian-Turkish border totaled 174,000 between January and November 2023; 1,430 were caught on their way into the country, which is 32% fewer than this time in 2022, and 2,246 were caught on their way out of the country, which was 45% fewer than this time last year.

The Minister also said that massive repairs are being done on the fence along the Bulgarian-Turkish border after the government provided funding of BGN 5 million leva. The facility suffered serious damage after the torrential rains and floods in the area in September. 19 sections have been damaged. Also, daily damage is caused during trespassing attempts and the Border Police do minor repairs on a daily basis while the more serious repair work will be done after a public procurement procedure. "Having to go through public procurement every time slows down the repairs," said the Minister.

Answering comments about 1,200 vacancies in the Border Police, Stoyanov said that it is impossible to hire as many people for legal reasons and that he will seek revisions in the applicable law to change a cap on recruitments in the administration and the executive power branch.

He said that his team has never stopped working for improving the capacity of the Border Police. "The Pazardjik trainin cetre [for police officers] sent off a new class with 108 cadets several days ago and another 128 are still undergoing training, and these will start work in April 2024. The Interior Ministry has a job announcement - the biggest ever - and is seeking to hire 217 border policemen. This is accompanied by a large-scale advertising campaign. So far 600 applications have been received. If these vacancies are filled, the Border Police will be 95% staffed."

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