Bulgarian FM: Europe Has to Begin Repatriation of Economic Migrants

According to Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov, Europe has to start returning economic migrants to their home countries.

Mitov was firm that there was no secret plan on the relocation of 500 000 migrants currently in Turkey to the EU.

Bulgaria has assumed its responsibility and has already accepted large enough number of refugees relative to its GDP, Mitov said in an interview for private bTV station on Friday.

The foreign minister pointed that the issue of relocation is secondary and instead the focus should be on repatriation.

In his words, this was one of the topics discussed with British Prime Minister David Cameron during his two-day visit to Bulgaria on Thursday and Friday as the UK has experience in the return of economic migrants.

According to him, Bulgaria should form a coalition of like-minded countries and convince its partners that the social, educational and other systems would not stand the pressure exerted by migrants.

Mitov was firm that the majority of the illegal migrants are not refugees and thus are not entitled to solidarity and support from all countries.

He highlighted that the external borders of the EU should be well-guarded, noting that Cameron was impressed with the guarding of the Bulgarian-Turkish border, which was inspected by the Bulgarian and British prime ministers on Friday.

Mitov identified Turkey as an important element in dealing with the refugee pressure, but pointed that other countries, such as Lebanon, also need aid.

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