2024-04-09 20:15:08
The European Commission reported today positive results of the support provided by the EU for the protection of the external borders of Bulgaria and Romania. Progress has been made in returning irregular migrants to the EU, improving asylum procedures and tackling money laundering. This was stated by Olivier Onidi, Deputy Director of the EC Directorate for Schengen and Internal Security in the EU, who spoke to MEPs from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
He noted that since March last year, the EC provided funding for these activities. Most importantly, we have been able to improve cooperation at all levels, this has led to an increased presence of the European border service Frontex, Onidi added.
The director of the “Border Police”, Anton Zlatanov, noted that the hardest land border in the EU is between Bulgaria and Turkey. We invest a huge resource in its protection and to our great regret in 2022 and 2023, six Bulgarian policemen died in the performance of their official duties along this line, he added.
Zlatanov also expressed the opinion that European support has brought many benefits, including speeding up procedures for examining asylum applications. More than 98 percent of the applications were considered under this procedure, he specified.
Our main priority is effective countermeasures against smuggling of migrants and saving human lives, Zlatanov pointed out. He drew attention to the cooperation with Turkey and added that this is of key importance in reducing the migrant pressure on Europe.
We have greatly improved the interaction with the Turkish authorities in the last year. Trust was built, the results of which are that the situation at the EU’s external border is calm, he summarized, quoted by BTA.
According to him, our country is ready to work with the EC for a national plan for the implementation of the new European legislation on migration. We show zero tolerance for the violation of basic rights and I guarantee that, said Zlatanov in response to a question of the MEPs related to the protection of the rights of migrants and the claims that there are cases of pushback along the Bulgarian border.
According to him, it is impossible to repel migrants because of the actions of the Turkish authorities. He explained that last year the Bulgarian border guards prevented about 180 thousand attempts to illegally enter our country.
Romanian Secretary of State Mihai Necula announced that Romanian border guards have undertaken joint patrols with their Serbian counterparts and this has led to a permanent reduction in the number of illegal migrant entries from the Serbian side.
The executive director of the EU’s asylum agency, Nina Gregory, noted that Bulgaria has received nearly a hundred translators for the migrant centers. According to her, the EU is helping to digitize the activities of the Bulgarian Refugee Agency.
Desislava Todorova from the non-governmental border violence monitoring network stated that from the point of view of civil society, the implementation of the European project for border protection in our country is carried out without reporting and discussion. She called for measures to be taken against the pushback of migrants, which is often associated with humiliation.