It has become known that in evaluations of the parliamentary committee for Bulgarians abroad, about 200,000 or even more Macedonian nationals were willing to become Bulgaria citizens. This requires an improved procedure for recognition of the Bulgarian origin of Bulgarian diaspora members. The problem with origin recognition is not new and its solution should not be delayed. Under the law the certificates of origin are key papers for granting Bulgarian citizenship. Following irregularities in issuance of certificates by the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, the Council on Citizenship at the Ministry of Justice has been having frictions with the Agency and has in practice frozen files for granting citizenship accompanied by certificates of origin unless stakeholders could back them with viable proof. The Agency accuses the Council of not recognizing its administrative acts. In turn, the Council has referred to an inspection of the Prosecutor's Office carried out at the beginning of 2014. The check found that in violation of the law the Agency has issued certificates of Bulgarian origin based on documents that do not contain data about at least one familymember of Bulgarian descent (father, mother or a grandparent).

Solving the problem is urgent because it is larger than the conflict between public institutions. It is common knowledge that part of the applications for a Bulgarian passport are motivated exclusively by the option to migrate freely to other European Union countries. If so, then Bulgaria has no right to claim that it prevents migration pressure from the Middle East over West Europe, while at the same time it facilitates such pressure from other regions by issuing ID papers in violation of its laws. Emigrants from the Middle East via Bulgaria to EU are thousands or tens of thousands while potential migrants from the Bulgarian diaspora are hundreds of thousands: after all, applications for citizenship are submitted not only from Macedonia but also from Albania, Ukraine, Kosovo, Moldova, Serbia, Turkey and even from Argentina.

Unimpeded granting of Bulgarian citizenship creates problems not only because of migration to EU but also with the countries of origin. In case it is true that 200,000 Macedonians are willing to get Bulgarian citizenship and Bulgaria proceeds to grant it, this country is going to appropriate as much as 10% of the population of a neighbour country. This is in the context of many-year efforts of the two countries to sign a good neighbour agreement.

Unimpeded granting of Bulgarian citizenship is likely to generate a few domestic issues as well. How would a country claiming it has no cash to accept several thousand immigrants from the Middle East and Africa accept hundreds of thousands from its diaspora?During the dramatic developments in the military conflict in Ukraine,the home of more than 300,000 ethnic Bulgarians according to some estimates, it was made clear Bulgaria cannot handle such an influx of migrants.

In the coming days the minister of justice is expected to meet with the parliamentary committee for Bulgarians abroad for a discussion of Bulgarian citizenship measures. The minister had vowed to present to the committee a report in May but the meeting failed to take place for a couple of reasons. If he fails to do so this time again, the committee plans to look for solutions via amendments to the law for Bulgarians residing abroad. MPs are likely to back amendments under which certificates of origin will be granted also based on a notarized statement proving Bulgarian descent and the check into its veracity will be in the competence of the Agency for Bulgarians Abroad. This move though would work to worsen tensions between public institutions.

In the meantime, citizens are looking forward to solutions based on the national interest. These solutions should have neither political nor nationalist motivation; they should rule out illegal practices and abide by international laws.  

English Daniela Konstantinova