Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry to Focus on Illegal Migration

Burlgaria's Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova (C) addressing MPs, Sofia, 2 September 2015. Photo BGNES

Bulgaria is handling well the flow of legal migrants arriving in the country, according to Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova.

"We manage to deal with the migration problem, registering all those who enter legally, taking their fingerprints,” Bachvarova told parliament on Wednesday.

“Now, our efforts will be focused on illegal migrants, coming mainly from Turkey, who have to be detained and brought to the registration centers.”

The Interior Ministry is considering the opening of six more registration centers “to prevent what is happening in Macedonia and Serbia”.

Tens of thousands of migrants, most of them claiming they are fleeing war in Syria, aim to reach Hungary after travelling northwest along the so-called Balkan route  – from Greece via non-EU Macedonia and Serbia. Once they enter the borderless Schengen zone in Hungary, their travel to the wealthier countries of the zone in northern and western Europe becomes much easier.

"One of the reasons why Bulgaria has about 16,000 refugees, as opposed to 160,000 in Macedonia and many more in Greece, is that people and those who help them know that it is very difficult to pass through Bulgaria’s territory," Buchvarova said.

Bulgaria and its northern neighbour Romania, which is bordering Hungary, are not members of the Schengen zone.

 

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