Bulgaria sounds the alarm on refugees from Syria (update)
(BRUSSELS2) Rossen Plevneliev, the Bulgarian President, informed Ban Ki-moon the Secretary General of the United Nations that the accommodation capacity of Bulgaria for refugees from the Middle East and especially from Syria is almost exhausted. The "critical" threshold of 5000 has been reached according to official sources quoted by the Bulgarian press. What is true for Bulgaria is also true for the neighboring countries, Greece and Cyprus.
Expert mission
A mission of experts from the European Commission - from DG Home (home affairs) and DG Echo (humanitarian aid and civil protection) is due to visit the country on 1 October. And the subject could be put on the agenda of the Ministers of the Interior, the October 7 and 8, at least as an information point.
No opening of the "temporary protection" directive
However, the European Commission denies having indicated that there was a state of emergency in Bulgaria as the Minister of the Interior recently declared. And we still feel skeptical about the opening of the temporary protection clause, provided for by a European directive dating from 2001. “ Criteria (mass influx) are not filled clarified to a question from B2, a member of the service of the spokesperson of the European Commission...
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