Influx of Immigrants to Bulgaria via Greece Increases 10 Times

The current migration pressure is comparable to the highest levels in October last year, Bulgaria's Deputy Interior Minister Filip Gunev told Capital Daily.

Traffic has been partly diverted to Greece, and the number of people who entered Bulgaria from Greece increased ten times, Gunev noted.

According to him, the only way to deal with the situation along the border is to continue to detach police officers there. This practice was introduced nearly a year ago by the previous Interior Ministry, until the fence along the border with Turkey was finished. The facility is already built, however it only covers 30 kilometers, Dnevnik.bg notes.

"The long-term solution is to increase the border police staff, however this is a process that will take at least a year and will have lasting effects on the budget of the Ministry of Interior," said Gunev.

According to the Deputy Interior Minister, last year's measures were headed in the right direction and the results are evident - so far there is no refugee crisis in Bulgaria. Gunev, however, insisted that a long-term solution should have been considered half a year ago.

"Analyses of the external factors of the security environment show that the problems in the Middle East are exacerbated rather than solved. From this perspective, migration pressure towards the EU will continue in the foreseeable future," Gunev explained.