BULGARIA EXPECTS SOLIDARITY FROM EC REGARDING REFUGEES

“Four EU states, including Bulgaria, have requested changes to the Dublin Regulation concerning refugees, said Nikolai Chirpanliev, the Chairperson of the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees in an interview for the BNT morning programme ‘The Day Begins’ on 19th May. He explained that the expected huge influx of refugees for the spring did not happen.

At the initiative of the Greek ambassador in Sofia, Chirpanliev met with his Greek counterparts to discuss the principle of solidarity, which is a key principle in European Union. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the other EU countries which experienced the greatest burden of refugee influx – Cyprus, Malta and Italy.

“We have come up with a stance, requesting the Dublin Regulation to be revised and the principles included in it to be reconsidered for several important reasons”, Nikolai Chirpanliev stated.

“Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta and Italy want the main leading factor in the European commission to be solidarity as there are 15 EU countries which did not accept a single refugee while our countries accepted in excess. Namely for this reason, we propose to see which country has the largest gross domestic product and therefore should take the main burden”, said the Chairperson of the SAR.

He also commented the rumours about organized protests in refugee centers, why the refugees say they get physically beaten, who benefits from such claims and what happened to the refugee children moved from a refugee center in Sofia to the village of Banya.

Over 4500 migrants have received refugee status since the start of the refugee crisis in Bulgaria, explained Chirpanliev. About 2500 were refused asylm. 1000 are waiting for decision.