site.btaVP Iotova Predicts That Migrant Flow Will Intensify in Coming Years

Vice President Iliana Iotova predicted Thursday that the migrant flow will intensify in the coming years due to the new conflicts, especially in the Middle East. She took part in a "Safe Zone for Unaccompanied Children" event at the Registration and Reception Centre (RRC) for migrants in Harmanli.

Speaking to journalists after the event, Iotova also commented on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, which was officially approved by the economy ministers of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU). "Bulgaria has officially supported the pact, but this is also where our problems begin, because in just two years we have to reach standards that we do not have," she noted, adding that unfortunately the tests were maintained in which the main burden for migration waves and flows will be borne by the countries at the EU's external borders, such as Bulgaria.

The vice-president stressed that the new pact puts even more serious conditions on the country and added that everything will have to be done at the borders - from the identification of migrants entering the country to their eventual readmission. "I am not sure that we have this resource and that is why I say that the next two years will be very difficult for our country to be able to enter within the framework of the European laws voted," Iotova explained.

She explained that according to the new legislation every child must have a guardian and added that in Bulgaria this system is not developed at all. In her words, currently the official law firms and lawyers who deal with the centres also take over the functions of guardians. Iotova was adamant that Bulgaria is obliged as a country to provide healthcare and education to these children. She stressed that there are many cases in which relatives or people who pretend to be relatives do not want children to attend Bulgarian schools.

She pointed out that this poses a huge danger for the integration of these children, because a significant number of them will remain in Bulgaria.