Greece Makes Sure Border Opened, 'Excellent' Cooperation with Bulgaria

About 200 Greek textile industry workers have arrived at Kulata-Promachonas Monday, making a human fence and closing the border for traffic for several hours. Photo by BGNES

The Greek authorities have excellent cooperation with Bulgaria that helps prevent or alleviate any potential blockade by protesters of the joint border, the Greek Embassy in Sofia said.

In a statement to the Bulgarian media, the Embassy has clarified the situation at Kulata-Promachonas, the most important border crossing between Bulgaria and Greece, which on Monday, February 7 was partly blockaded by protesters.

At 9 am on Monday, a group of workers from a local Greek textile plant stopped blocked the traffic at Kulata-Promachonas by letting vehicles through every other hour.

The Bulgarian-Greek border has been fully opened since 8:30 pm the same day, February 7.

"As part of the excellent cooperation between Greece and Bulgaria, the Greek authorities have notified in a timely manner both the Bulgarian and the EU institutions about the measures they undertook to resolve the problem," states the Greek Embassy in Sofia.

It also points out that the Greek authorities have kept their Bulgarian counterparts constantly informed about the intention of a group of Greek farmers to join the brief blockade of the border, and about the alternative routes that can be used when traffic through Kulata-Promachonas is hindered.

Greece reacted by dispatching police forces that prevented the farmers' access to the border, stopping them at a location 27 km away from it.

The Greek Embassy in Sofia vows that the authorities in Greece will continue to take any proper measures to overcome border blockade problems that can arise in the future.

The statement of the Embassy comes as an effort to clarify the situation at the border since the media in Bulgaria reacted strongly at the first news for a possible border blockade.

The media reactions in Bulgaria resulted largely from the history from the previous two years, 2009 and 2010, when striking Greek farmers blockaded the border in January-February for weeks, incurring substantial losses to Bulgarian businesses as Greece is one of Bulgaria's most important trading partners.

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