Sega newspaper carries a front page headline that reads: “Bulgaria starts to take in refugees from Turkey,” under a government decision, made on Wednesday that has not been made public. The caretaker cabinet cites the agreement signed between the EU and Turkey in March on the resettlement of migrants which is not recognized by the General Court of the EU or by some countries. The decision makes no mention of the number of people to be accepted by Bulgaria, but according to a Sega source it is a matter of around 50 people. Bulgaria is obliged to take in 50 people again from Greece or Italy by the end of the year under a different agreement. The refugees from Turkey will be selected by Bulgarian teams of experts from the State Agency for Refugees, the State Agency for National Security, the Interior Ministry as well as interpreters, dispatched to Turkey. The papers will be drawn up by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, but Bulgarian teams will be checking the authenticity of the passports, taking fingerprints and compiling dossiers of personal data and other information, on the basis of which an evaluation will be made of any possible grounds for considering a foreign national to be a threat to the public or national security of Bulgaria. Sega comments that, paradoxically, Bulgaria is beginning to implement the agreement with Turkey at a time of deep crisis in the relations between Erdogan and the European governments. Moreover, at the beginning of the month the General Court of the EU rejected as unofficial the accord between the EU and Turkey, stating that neither the European Council, not any other EU institution has made any decision to conclude an agreement with the Turkish government. The paper notes that on the same day the Bulgarian cabinet made the decision to take in refugees from Turkey, the leaders of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland declared they would not endorse the migrant resettlement plan drafted by the EU, because they consider it to be “blackmail, pure and simple”.
Compiled by Stoimen Pavlov
English version: Milena Daynova
More than 550,000 people received support last year under the European programme Food and Basic Material Assistance – packages of staple foods and nine kinds of sanitary items. Almost 70,000 people from 232 municipalities have availed..
During an operation of the General Directorate Combating Organised Crime under the leadership and supervision of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office and the National Revenue Agency, a criminal group involved in tax crimes and money..
A list of over 10 unfair trade practices that must be stopped will be handed over to representatives of all parliamentary groups. Among them are high mark-ups, hidden fees of retail chains, inequality between Bulgarian and imported..
In Plovdiv, experts discuss issues of the food industry, in accordance with the most up-to-date requirements of the Bulgarian and European regulatory..
Education must make children not only knowledgeable but also good people, said Minister of Education and Science Krasimir Valchev at a meeting with His..
On February 19th, the day when Bulgarians worldwide commemorate 152 years since the passing of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski, Bulgaria’s National..
Partly Cloudy
Mostly Cloudy