site.btaInterior Minister: Migration Pressure on Bulgaria Is Decreasing

Interior Minister: Migration Pressure on Bulgaria Is Decreasing

Sofia, November 4 (BTA) - Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova
Wednesday said in Parliament that they are observing a drop in
the migration pressure on Bulgaria.

"Our main task now is to limit and neutralize the illegal human
trafficking, to register everyone who passes through our
country. I think that this process is organized very well. The
next focus of our work is to prevent the distribution of illegal
 emigrants in the country," Buchvarova said.

The accommodation centres are overpopulated by people who want a
 refugee status, while there are free places where the State
Agency for Refugees is working, she went on to say. "There will
be reorganization so that we can direct people from the former
centres to the latter. We are ready to handle even more serious
situations," Buchvarova said.

The construction of the razor wire fence along the border with
Turkey continues but at a lower speed than expected, the
Interior Minister noted.

She also said that at the last informal meeting of the EU
leaders, Bulgaria has not made a commitment to accept additional
 refugees. There are around 2,000 people at the accommodation
centres at the moment who have applied for a refugee status.
Many of those who have acquired such a status are not in
Bulgaria, the Interior Minister noted. Around 15,000 migrants
have entered this country in the last several years but the
exact statistics are a problem both for Bulgaria and Europe as a
 whole, because part of the migrants are not registered, she
added.
 
Bulgaria uses an accommodation model that gives an account of
those who have entered the country legally and illegally, as
well as the people who have been detained upon leaving,
Buchvarova explained. She underscored that the cooperation with
Turkey is very important because while 500 to 600 people are
detained at the Bulgarian border, Turkey arrests around 5,000
people.