In May the European Commission proposed that Bulgaria accept 788 asylum seekers out of the total of 40,000 for the entire EU that are to be relocated from Italy and Greece, as well as the 200 people or so from third countries seeking asylum in the EU. After the meeting of the EU interior ministers at the Justice and Foreign Affairs Council last week, which was attended by Bulgaria’s Minister of the Interior Roumyana Buchvarova, their number was reduced down to 500.

“The Bulgarian government succeeded in reducing by around 33 percent the number of asylum seekers that were supposed to be admitted to Bulgaria as part of the EU’s migration agenda,” Minister Buchvarova said. In her words the arguments adduced by Bulgaria were heard while at the same time we expressed our solidarity and readiness to help the countries affected most. In this sense, what has been achieved is significant because according to data of the Interior Ministry over the first six months of this year, the migration pressure has increased 4.5 times compared to the same period of last year. In the words of Nikola Kazakov, President of the State Agency for Refugees the capacity of the agency’s facilities is 75 percent full though it could only be filled up to 90 percent as distribution in the different centres depends on several criteria – religion, sex, marital status etc. In this sense the accommodation capacities remaining at the centres available are 15 percent. People seeking asylum in Bulgaria come mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. The state sets aside funding from its restricted budget and whatever the existing financial or economic problems does its best to meet one of the most serious challenges the country is facing – migration. Twenty percent of our security budget is spent on refugees. At the international conference, hosted by the Interior Ministry “The EU in a changing global environment: What’s next for Europe’s neighbours – the Bulgarian perspective” the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated that we must share the responsibility of sending back people who are economic migrants. “No country can feel big and strong enough, to deal with the challenges alone,” she said. She added that this was a European problem that will prove to be a standing one and that border control issues must be resolved at a European level. Countries along the EU’s borders like Bulgaria know that it is a bad thing not to have a real refugee-receiving system of sharing.

In her words, sometimes it will be Italy that will be in need of assistance, other times – Bulgaria, Greece or Portugal, if you don’t need help now, the time will come when you shall. It is a matter of our prestige outside Europe, she said.

She may be right, but there is no real refugee-receiving system of sharing as yet, which means that the border countries will continue to be under the biggest migration pressure while others may not show such solidarity. Being in the way of the biggest migration flow, this country has displayed the solidarity and hospitality needed whatever the cost domestically. And it is thanks to the fact that we have been giving that we are being given too. But shouldn’t there be more solidarity with the country that is showing solidarity, even if it is just for the sake of Europe’s prestige outside Europe.

English version: Milena Daynova