Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus demanded at the Justice and Home Affairs Council held on October 8 that the union provides support to the frontline countries along the Eastern Mediterranean migrant route. One week earlier, Bulgaria’s Minister of Interior Mladen Marinov had warned that the attempts for illegal crossing of the Bulgaria-Greece border increased. The Bulgarian authorities were concerned of possible increase of the migrant flow from Greece back in April when this country’s government urgently discussed measures aimed at dealing with possible massive refugee pressure from Greece to Western Europe through Bulgaria. In connection with the worries of increased migrant pressure, the Bulgarian authorities said that the armed forces may provide assistance to the police and the national gendarmerie to protect the border if necessary. Then, Premier Borissov said that the Bulgaria-Turkey border was protected well and the migrant agreement with Turkey was functioning well, but there was a problem with the Bulgaria-Greece border. The Bulgarian authorities now say that the situation along the Bulgarian –Turkish border is under control, but this country is part of a common initiative with Athens which demands that Turkey assumes responsibility for the new wave of migrants in Greece and controls the migrant flow in the Aegean Sea. Greece also demands that a revision of the migrant agreement between the EU and Turkey should be made.

On one hand, the union between Bulgaria and two more frontline countries along the Eastern Mediterranean Route shows that this country cannot deal with possible migrant pressure such as the one in 2015 on its own. On the other hand, the demands voiced yesterday to the EU mean that this country is ready to participate actively in the forthcoming negotiations on new migrant policy in the EU. The migrant policy of the union has not been well developed and even one of its pillars – the Dublin Regulation which rules that the illegal migrants in the EU should be repatriated to the first country of entry, has been subject to disputes. Sofia, Athens and Nicosia called for specific measures at an EU level in the context of European solidarity and responsibility, which include fair distribution of the burden through relocation of migrants from the frontline countries, reliable policy for returning migrants to third countries and broader support to the EU countries which are directly affected by the migrant crisis. In fact, this is a call for a new common migration policy. Germany also supported a new migration policy. This country’s Minister of Interior Horst Seehofer said that if the EU leaves all countries situated on the external border to fend for themselves, there will never be a common European asylum policy and the absence of such policy may trigger uncontrolled immigration in Europe. The negotiations on the EU migration policy will be held later this year. Last month Minister Seehofer assured that if all agreements are observed, Germany will be able to receive 25% of the migrants who arrive to Italy by sea. Germany, Sofia, Athens and Nicosia share common positions, which creates expectations for good progress of the common migration policy of the EU. If the EU meets the demand for financial assistance of the frontline countries situated along the Eastern Mediterranean Route within the context of the next multiannual financial framework of the EU 2021-2026, this would be a serious indication of such progress.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov