In an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday the Co-chairman of the Patriotic Front Krasimir Karakachanov warned that the main topic of discussion with the Reformist Bloc will regard the state policy towards illegal migration, should the Reformist Bloc receives the exploratory mandate for establishment of a new cabinet in the current National Assembly. Bulgaria's former Minister of Defense Boyko Noev told BNR that Europe was aware that it cannot manage the refugee flow towards the Bulgaria-Turkey border well. That is why it started to concentrate its efforts on the Bulgaria-Serbia border. Bulgaria's Vice-President-elect Iliana Yotova announced on Monday morning that Bulgaria promised the European Commission to build 3 new closed-type migrant accommodation centers. The migration problems boost tension and leave a permanent mark in Bulgaria's public and political life in a period when the country faces early Parliamentary elections.

Recently some Afghani nationals organized a riot at the migrant accommodation center in Harmanli. Later it became clear that Bulgaria had to expand the capacity of the migrant accommodation centers and at the same time distinguish refugees from economic migrants. The human rights' defenders accused the Bulgarian authorities of violence against the refugees. However, others insisted that the policemen who managed to put the riot under control should receive prizes. Moreover, they called on the authorities to undertake stricter measures against the foreign nationals who enter this country illegally. Even the Bulgarian Orthodox Church took a stand on that issue. The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church warned in an extraordinary announcement that the wave of migrants who were chased away from military conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa has turned into an invasion and stated that the Bulgarian cabinet should not allow any more illegal migrants to enter the country and that it should take care of those who already reside in Bulgaria in a humane manner. The Bulgarian cabinet initiated procedures aimed at repatriating the illegal migrants and accommodating the dangerous migrants in closed-type migrant centers under the pressure of patriotic and nationalistic formations and the anti-migrant street protests held in some Bulgarian cities. In a phone conversation with Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah Bulgaria's outgoing Premier Boyko Borissov said that Bulgaria and Afghanistan had to sign a bilateral agreement on the readmission of illegal migrants. Premiers Borissov and Abdullah agreed that the Interior Ministers of Afghanistan and Bulgaria would start working actively under the signature of that document. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, however, was of a different opinion. It stood against the calls for massive expulsion of migrants and urged the Bulgarian authorities to improve the living conditions at the migrant accommodation centers. Meanwhile, the migrant pressure on Bulgaria has decreased over the recent weeks due to the cold weather. However, the migrant flow from Bulgaria to Central and Western Europe has intensified.

Some migrants left the country's migrant accommodation centers and attempted to leave the country. Others, however, accommodated themselves illegally at those centers without asking permission from the Bulgarian authorities. As a result, the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior increased the control at those centers. The Bulgarian authorities have to deal with the difficult political situation and with the necessity of more technical and financial resources at the same time. Many illegal migrants who cross the Bulgaria-Turkey border reach sooner or later the Bulgaria-Serbia border. This, according to experts, proves the existence of a serious internal migration problem. The migrants who recently launched a riot at Harmanli migrant center insisted that Bulgaria should open a free corridor to Western Europe through Serbia.  

The internal migration problem is of a chaotic type. In October 2016 the migrant centers of the State Agency for Refugees accommodated 1,178 people. Nearly 2,400 migrants left voluntarily those centers. Some 16,800 migrants filled in asylum applications since the beginning of 2016.However, most of them (nearly 12,500 migrants) left Bulgaria before receiving asylum and only 434 people received such. The number of arrested migrants dwindled by half-from 4,500 migrants in October 2015 to 2,123 people in October this year, which proves that the migrants had the opportunity to move freely. Between January and October 2016 a total of 784 illegal migrants were extradited from Bulgaria and only 64 people left that country voluntarily at their own expense. In other words, the internal migration problem causes huge financial damages, too. Taking into account the fact that Turkey is about to abandon its migrant agreement with the EU, Bulgaria has to prepare for more difficulties. This is the price a country situated at the crossroad between the East and the West has to pay.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov