During the first meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels after the deadly attacks in Paris, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov reiterated that the unity of the EU Member States was required for solving the external security issues. After the forum the Minister met with reporters and made statements that showed the position of Sofia related to the problem of high migration pressures had hardened. Minister Mitov said that Bulgaria was taking care for a very large number of migrants when the size of the country’s gross domestic product and population is taken into account. The minister hinted it was absurd to talk about quotas for admission. Although he did not say it literally, the Minister made it clear that Bulgaria does not intend to accept more refugees. The opinion is not entirely new, because even before the attacks in Paris last week in Malta PM Borissov said that the migration flow must be stopped first and borders must be closed, in order for the EU to take care of the migrants who have already arrived, before welcoming more.

According to the Foreign Minister, now Europe has a priority to address the security issues related to its external borders and start returning migrants who do not have refugee status and the rights of international protection back to their home countries. Readmission agreements must be signed and implemented, as they make countries obliged to take back migrants who came out of their territory. According to Sofia, these countries should receive international financial support, especially in the case of Turkey, which has given shelter to two million refugees.

Sofia has often been saying that a substantial part of efforts to deal with migration pressure should be aimed at removing the reasons that cause it. One of these is terrorist organization “Islamic State.” In Brussels, Foreign Minister Mitov openly said that previous actions against the terrorist organization were ineffective and a ground operation will most probably be required. It was yet to be decided which countries would participate. According to the Minister, a final solution to the conflict in Syria can be achieved by establishing a broad coalition, including the countries of the region, supported by the EU and the transatlantic community.

The bombings in Paris have accelerated work on a long delayed issue in Bulgaria – radical Islam gaining strength among some vulnerable members of the population, despite the fact radicalism is not typical for local Muslims. So far there is no evidence in Bulgaria for operating cells of the Islamic State, but experts have warned that local supporters of radical Islam try emulating the behaviour of the organisation.

Criminalizing the phenomenon was a focus of discussion even before the attack against Charlie Hebdo but there were no legislative initiatives taken in this direction. Two days after the attacks in Paris, however, the government published on its website a draft of a "Strategy for combating radicalization and terrorism (2015 - 2020)." Among the objectives of the document is prevention of violent radicalization of individuals or groups in Bulgarian society and combating spreading of radical propaganda and persons recruiting members of terrorist organizations. The strategy envisages effective prevention of terrorist activities and effective prosecution of terrorists.

Plans for changes in policies towards the migration wave that is sweeping the entire continent will be probably welcomed by society. Calls for changes are heard in all EU Member States. There have been calls for changes in attitude towards the mass migration in the US, too. Plans for changes in Bulgaria are obviously an element of a transnational cause.

English: Alexander Markov