The EU Justice and Home Affairs Council discussed this week in Luxembourg the need to accelerate processes for ensuring technical security of the external borders of the European Union. At the forum Germany raised the topic of rapid change in the rules for providing asylum and reform of the Dublin Regulation before the beginning of 2018.

In this regard, Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova called that reform of the Dublin rules for granting of asylum should create a fair mechanism that takes into account the geographical and economic situation of EU Member States and does not lead to bigger burden to the countries with outer borders. Ministers approved a new identity travel document that is to facilitate returning of illegal immigrants to their home countries. For Bulgaria adopting the document will be essential because it would contribute to stopping the alarming trend of migrants with regular documents issued by the Agency for Refugees trying repeatedly to exit the country towards Western Europe. During the meeting in Luxembourg, in Sofia it was announced that at the request of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and after the expected adoption of amendments to the Interior Ministry Law hiring employees to assist in border control and border security would start. These employees will have the right to use physical force and auxiliary means such as handcuffs, electric batons and others. The measure hints that the authorities have been preparing a new, more strict regime of treatment of illegal migrants. There is also the idea to use 15 million euro out of the 160 million provided by the EU to deal with the refugee crisis in order to build refugee crisis centers far away from big cities, where migrants will stay until their identity and origin is known.

In Luxembourg, Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova expressed satisfaction that the new European Border and Coast Guard Agency has started to act first on the territory of Bulgaria and pointed out that the control of migratory pressure has been increased not only at the Bulgarian - Turkish border but also at the Bulgarian - Serbian border. Germany and Austria insisted that previously introduced emergency border checks in the free movement zone in Europe to continue after the end of their term in mid-November. The question is no longer whether there is new regime concerning migrants but when results of the measures will be felt.