site.btaJoint Contingent from Bulgaria, Austria, Romania and Hungary Starts Work Guarding Bulgarian-Turkish Border

A joint contingent from Bulgaria, Austria, Romania and Hungary has started work on guarding the Bulgarian-Turkish border. The agreement on the creation of the unit of Border Police officers from the four countries was officially signed on Monday in Svilengrad by the directors of the Border Police of Bulgaria and Romania, Anton Zlatanov and Cornel-Laurian Stoica, the National Police of Hungary János Balogh and Austria's Director-General for Public Safety in the Ministry of the Interior Franz Ruf.

The contingent will consist of 120 officers.

"If we are unable to protect our external borders it means that we will not be able to protect our internal borders either," warned Hungary's Interior Minister Sandor Pinter. He noted that with this agreement his country supports the efforts for protecting Schengen and external borders and welcomed the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen by land.

The creation of the contingent represents an even stronger protection measure that provides security, according to Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu. Organised migration is a global phenomenon and big business that destabilizes countries, he said. In addition, organized migrant flows also mean drug and arms trafficking, Predoiu added. 

He pointed out that his country would insist on more European funding and consolidation of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), as well as investment in technology and equipment for the Border Police. 

Austria has been promoting effective border security measures for years, said Franz Ruff. He specified that efforts at national and international level show that his country is firmly against illegal migration and human trafficking. He assessed the signing of the memorandum as a significant step in the future cooperation between Austria and Bulgaria. Ruf pointed out that the officers sent by Austria are extremely well trained and have international experience. 

After the end of the official meeting, the Director of the Border Police Directorate General, Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, said that with the new contingent the main commitment for the protection of the Bulgarian-Turkish border will remain with the Bulgarian Border Police and the Bulgarian Army with 1500-1600 border guards and a hundreds of servicepersons. He assured that the migrant pressure is currently low, but is expected to increase in the summer. Last year, he said, a large number of organised criminal trafficking groups were neutralised together with the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, the national police and the State Agency for National Security. As for the officers at the border with Greece after Bulgaria's accession to Schengen, Zlatanov explained that their number is the same, but they are no longer in the booths at the border crossings, but on the roads near the border. 

Bulgarian Interior Minister Daniel Mitov stressed that guarding the external European border cannot and should not be the sole responsibility of the Member States on the front line. The new formation will complement the work of the Bulgarian Border Police, he said, and announced that thanks also to the cooperation with the Turkish side, a steady trend of reduction of migrant pressure towards Bulgaria from Turkiye is being reported, and the effective protection of this border remains a top priority. 

The competent heads of the forces from the four countries will maintain an effective liaison with each other and will make a professional analysis on the contingent, Daniel Mitov explained.