“April turned out to be the hardest month for those trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Europe with regard to the huge death toll and Bulgaria stands on the way of this refugee flow,” said Bruce Burton, Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Bulgaria. He is taking part in a seminar “Migration and Refugees: Issues of Transnational Security” taking place in Sofia. In the words of the American diplomat a total of over 40 million people have been forced to relocate, with more than 12 million migrating from Syria alone. 

We should not forget that behind these dry numbers there are real people, with their stories, their families and relatives. “Every migrant and refugee could have a major impact on our society and bring great benefit,” said on his part Dr. Peter Kolb, Permanent Representative of the German Embassy in Bulgaria and added that Albert Einstein and Frederic Chopin and Madeleine Albright had also been refugees in the countries where they made their name.

Latest data indicate that the refugee surge towards Bulgaria has been growing, with more than 3,000 seeking asylum and protection in this country during the first three months of the year which is 60 percent up on the same period of last year. “This is untypical of the winter months, in summer we are expecting the refugee flow towards Bulgaria to grow,” comments Nikola Kazakov, President of the State Agency for Refugees and adds:

“We are getting ready for the new wave by improving living conditions at the transit shelters, we have been speeding up the procedure for granting asylum. We currently have 5,130 beds at the refugee shelters but have a capacity for another 1,500. We are planning to have a mobile unit, i.e. furnished caravans where another 500-600 people can be put up if the need arises. This will help us cope with the flow of refugees if the number of newcomers exceeds 11,000 as was the case last year. The refugee centres are currently 70 percent full. The main flow enters Bulgarian territory across the border from Turkey. The border police have carefully been tracking what kind of people enter the country. As to the communication among the state institutions directly in charge of migration control and asylum, it is running very smoothly.”

According to Nikola Kazakov the European countries are currently faced with one of the biggest security challenges since World War II. In his words the conflagration of conflict has not spared Europe and the crisis in Ukraine could flare up in the future, with any prospects of a positive outcome being minimal.

“What is more, terrorist organizations have been very active in recruiting new members, many of them being young and educated Europeans, infected by religious fanaticism and intolerance,” says Nikola Kazakov. It is the member countries along the EU’s southern borders, and that includes Bulgaria, that have been finding they are at the end of their tether and are no longer able to cope with this difficult situation by themselves, Kazakov says.

English Milena Daynova