Relocation Is Only Temporary Solution to Migrant Crisis, Bulgaria Says

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov (R) speaking to the media ahead of a summit of EU leaders on migrant crisis in Brussels, September 23, 2015. Photo: BGNES

The European Union should urgently work with its partners towards stabilizing the countries of origin and helping transit countries in order to resolve the current migration crisis, Bulgaria said on Wednesday.

"The adoption of a mechanism for relocation of migrants in response to the crisis is a temporary solution,” the government in Sofia said in a statement on Wednesday prior to the informal summit of EU leaders in Brussels in the evening.

Bulgaria will be represented by its Prime Minister Boyko Borisov at at the meeting called by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

A lasting and stable solution is needed to alleviate migratory pressure at the EU’s external borders and the resultant secondary migration, the cabinet said.

Bulgaria, which is not member of the EU’s Schengen passport-free travel zone but forms part of the bloc’s external border, believes that neighbouring non-EU Turkey is a key country in the efforts to resolve the migration crisis.

Therefore, “the EU should consider urgent measures to support Turkey’s capability to accept refugees,” the Bulgarian government said.

EU Interior Ministers on Tuesday approved a much disputed plan of the European Commission to redistribute 120,000 asylum-seekers from Greece Hungary and Italy around the bloc according to binding quotas despite objections from four eastern European states. EU leaders have to ratify the vote in Brussels on Wednesday.

Draft proposals include increasing support to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries neighbouring Syria from where many migrants come.

 

 

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!