site.btaBulgaria Among EU Countries Most Exposed to Migration Pressure – European Commission

Bulgaria is among the EU Member States most exposed to migration pressure, according to data presented by the European Commission on Monday. The Commission’s assessment shows a continued improvement of the migratory situation across the EU over the period from July 2024 to June 2025 with illegal border crossings down by 35%, also due to enhanced cooperation with partner countries.

At the same time, challenges remain, such as continued pressure from irregular arrivals and unauthorized movements within the EU, the hosting of refugees from Ukraine, weaponization of migration by Russia and Belarus at the external borders, and cooperation on returns and readmission.

The Commission proposed the establishment of the first Solidarity Pool to address the needs of Member States under migratory pressure. It is now for the Council to adopt the Commission proposal and agree on the size of the Solidarity Pool and on how each Member State will contribute according to its fair share. Once the Council adopts the decision on the Solidarity Pool, the Member States' solidarity contributions will be public and legally binding.

Bulgaria, along with Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Austria and Poland, has faced a significant cumulative migratory pressure over the last five years. These countries may request the Council to grant a full or partial deduction from their contributions to the Solidarity Pool for the upcoming year.

Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Finland are at risk of migratory pressure, either because of high numbers of arrivals in the preceding year, ongoing strains on their reception systems or the threat of weaponization of migration that could create disproportionate obligations in the upcoming year. They will have priority access to the EU Migration Support Toolbox and their situation will be reevaluated in an expedited manner depending on changes to their situation.

Member States are free to choose the form of their solidarity contributions between people solidarity (relocation or responsibility offsets if applicable), financial support, and alternative measures or a combination of these measures.

To preserve the balance between solidarity and responsibility, the Pact ensures that Member States contributing to the Solidarity Pool will not be required to implement their solidarity pledges towards a Member State under migratory pressure if the Commission has identified systemic shortcomings in that Member State with regard to the new responsibility rules. The Commission will assess this situation in July 2026 and again in October 2026.

Presenting the proposals, European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said the EU is preparing for the most significant reform of its migration policy to date. He noted that since the introduction of fully electronic border checks a month ago, four million crossings have been registered and data collected on over three million foreign nationals.