At the crisis EU summit on refugees late on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov somehow got “lost in translation”, and as a result was imputed with a proposal for making Bulgaria one of the refugee hot spots along the union’s outer borders. To clarify: hot spots are reception centres (such centres will, for now, open in Italy and Greece) where European experts will register migrants, filter those eligible for refugee status and decide which European country to send them to.

Borissov’s words were dissected after the statement made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the matter. She said that the EU leaders had not discussed the redistribution of 120,000 refugees but they had agreed that whatever the decision on their redistribution, it can only be put through provided there exist “hot spots” – in Italy and Greece. And added, word for word: “Bulgaria also indicated that it has an external border with Turkey that is under tremendous pressure by refugee flows. We were open-minded. We said that if Bulgaria wants to create a “hot spot”, it will receive the same support from the European institutions and agencies like Greece and Italy. However, we do not want to impose anything on Bulgaria, and Bulgaria itself said: We have a problem, so why not us, and it’s quite arguable.”

Hours later Boyko Borissov stated that he had only said that Bulgaria is a hot spot anyway, hence the apprehensions of Bulgarians that this wave, this tsunami that is rising across the Mediterranean when everyone else has been closing down borders, will reach our own border. He explained that his position had been formed by a letter from his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu which reads that there are millions of refugees in Turkey and another 7 million potential immigrants from Syria. “This letter formed my position at the European council. The focus was entirely on Italy and Greece, so I took out the map of Bulgaria and said that we would now discuss geography. Our land border with Turkey is just as long, and the EU must take into account the fact that we are safeguarding the Schengen area, even though we are outside Schengen. Must 300,000 flood into Bulgaria before we call a crisis meeting about Bulgaria too?” Borissov asked. He added that the EU was running behind events and that the billions earmarked for coping with the refugee crisis must be channeled towards creating safety zones for refugees outside the EU, close to their places of birth.

Ultimately, the European Commission confirmed Bulgaria had not made any request for reception centres or hot spots for refugees on the territory of the country. But the questions raised by the Bulgarian Prime Minister await their answer.

English version: Milena Daynova