EU commissioners have finally managed to make a decision in relation to the problem with refugees, coming from poor Africa across the Mediterranean sea towards Europe. Two days ago Brussels announced its plans for introducing legislative measures aimed at resettling 40,000 people looking for asylum in Europe – 24,000 of them are currently in Italy and 16,000 in Greece. The mechanism is focused only on migrants from Syria and Eritrea. The EU will pay 6,000 euro per migrant to the recipient country. According to UN statistics, 60,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean sea since the beginning of the year in an attempt to reach Europe. More than 1,800 people died in shipwrecks, which is 20 times more in comparison to the same period in 2014.

The offer of the EC should still be discussed and adopted by the governments of the 28 Member States in order to become a reality. There are two issues that could cause disagreement. The first is related to whether the mechanism would be compulsory or not. 10 EU Member States have already voiced disagreement with the decision and said they would not be accepting immigrants. At the same time the UK, Ireland and Denmark are not included in the program for resettlement. The second problem stems from the criteria for resettlement, which include population, GDP and level of unemployment.

How would Bulgaria react? Will it take part in solving the migration problem in the Mediterranean? Days ago Sofia also voiced unwillingness to welcome more refugees but now I expect authorities to  use the traditional “yes” for an answer and would welcome hundreds immigrants more. The quota for Bulgaria is 788 migrants which looks like a small number in comparison to 40,000. But there are some disturbing facts.

The southeastern border of Bulgaria with Turkey, has been exposed to high migration pressure, mainly from refugees from Syria. Bulgaria was not prepared to welcome so many people seeking asylum and it remains unprepared to this day. That is why it started building a fence on the border with Turkey. Now it seems it would need to accept "Mediterranean" migrants. Apparently this was the topic of recent discussions between Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi in Riga, within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Summit. According to official information, the two agreed that both the Mediterranean region and the southeastern Bulgarian border were subject to increased migration pressure and only joint actions would allow coping with a growing inflow of refugees. But Italy will definitely not accept on its territory refugees now living in Bulgaria. 
 
Another disturbing fact is that Bulgaria, which is the poorest country in the EU, is just a stop on the way of migrants to the rich West European countries. Few are those willing to integrate in Bulgarian society but there have already been cases of antisocial behavior and conflicts caused mostly by illegal immigrants. 
 
Commissioners in Brussels have used the proven tactics of Pontius Pilate. They placed some criteria, leaving member states quarrelling over the "Mediterranean" refugee problem. I'm not convinced that it will be solved with the displacement of 40 000 immigrants who have already arrived to Italy and Greece. Moreover, is it not fairer that Member States with outer EU borders are exempt from quotas for more refugees? Will it be more effective to focus efforts to combat traffickers of refugees across the Mediterranean from Africa to European shores? Isn’t it better to work with the countries producing refugees in order to overcome poverty and political instability, which are the basis of the migration process?

English: Alexander Markov