site.btaVazrazhdane Insists That Bulgarian Army Is Sent to Guard State Border

Once again the Vazrazhdane political party demanded that the Bulgarian army be sent to the state border, Vazrazhdane party leader Kostadin Kostadinov said, reading out a party declaration from the parliamentary rostrum during a sitting on Thursday. The reason for the declaration was the upcoming final decision on Bulgaria and Romania's entry into Schengen by land, which was taken later Thursday by the EU Council, an hour after the Vazrazhdane declaration was read out.

According to Kostadinov and his party, Bulgaria’s entry into Schengen is not something that the country should be proud of. "This is something to be feared because at the moment it is becoming the biggest threat to Bulgaria's survival and the future of the Bulgarian nation," Kostadinov argued.

By entering Schengen by land, Bulgaria is in danger of becoming the largest refugee camp in Europe, he said. "They brought us into Schengen for this very reason, to turn us into a huge refugee camp. It is for this reason that we once again call for the Bulgarian army to guard the border," Kostadinov insisted.

In his words, by entering Schengen, Bulgaria becomes a first country of asylum for every single illegal migrant. "If until now we were a transit territory through which they [the migrants] passed and went to Central and Western Europe, now we will become a host country for them. This means that the moment one of these illegal migrants is somehow caught during a simple check in any of the [other] European countries, they will immediately be returned to the first country of asylum," Kostadinov said.

"Of course, according to European Union regulations, we are within our rights to refuse to accept them, it's just that we have to pay for that - the price is €20,000 apiece. Each illegal migrant we refuse to take in is valued at EUR 20,000. To prevent this from happening, in theory, we need to strengthen our borders and prevent illegal migrants from entering," Kostadinov said, adding that Bulgaria's partners in Brussels do not trust the Bulgarian state and its ability to protect its borders by itself. According to him, one of the conditions for Bulgaria's entry into Schengen, which will not be said loudly, is that Bulgaria must allow representatives of three foreign countries to guard its borders together with Bulgarian police officers for an indefinite period of time. Kostadinov pointed out that those are representatives of Hungary, Austria and Romania.

"The third thing we are not being told is that in practice the border control for Romania will remain for at least six months. Moreover, Schengen itself is now practically dead. A large number of countries in Western Europe have reinstated border controls. So has Germany, so has Austria, so has the Netherlands - indefinitely," Vazrazhdane's leader argued.