Bulgaria FM Warns against Alternative Balkans Route for Migrants

A final agreement between the EU and Turkey should provide guarantees that land borders between Turkey and Bulgaria or between Greece and Turkey will not become part of a new migrant route, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov has said.

In an interview with the Bulgarian National Television, he has made clear that a way should be found to bar smugglers from creating such a route.

Mitov has welcomed the closure of the so-called Western Balkans migrant route that practically followed the broad agreement reached between EU and Turkish leaders earlier this week.

In his words, a final deal should help the EU regain control of its external borders, but also provide both parties with mechanisms to control the processes.

Earlier this week, Austrian media outlets quoted authorities as saying more intense movement of migrants had recently been registered in Bulgaria and Hungary.

On Thursday afternoon, the Bulgarian National Radio quoted Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova as saying that Bulgaria would demand that Turkey take in irregular migrants who crossed into Bulgaria once an agreement between Brussels and Ankara is in place.

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