Commissioner: EU Help for Bulgaria for Refugees Is Now Fact

EU support for Bulgaria to cope with the ongoing Syrian refugee influx is a fact now, according to Bulgarian Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.

"The technical assistance is already set in motion, while the financial assistance has been confirmed in general. Material assistance under the mechanism of civil defense is on its way to Bulgaria," assured the Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner, speaking Sunday for the Bulgarian National (public) radio, BNR.

"We received a request for assistance by the Bulgarian authorities on October 16. One of the member states has sent a contribution already - beds, blankets, so that people arriving in the country receive immediately what they need most," said Georgieva.

She did not commit to a precise amount of financial assistance, but explained it would be certainly "significant."

Georgieva stressed the Syrian crisis will not end soon, which means Bulgaria should not look at the issue as accepting refugees for a month or two, but rather as helping them to live and work in the country.

"One of the biggest lies is that we have the most refugees in Bulgaria. To tell our people - we are so poor, but see, the EU is unloading them on us, is to create attitudes. We, Christians and Muslims have lived together for centuries in our country. Of those Syrians who come here, maybe two or three have criminal inclinations, but the overwhelming majority of them are people who are fleeing the horrors of war, and it is wrong to politicize the issue," concluded Kristalina Georgieva.

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