Tasking Defense Ministry with Guarding Bulgaria?s Border 'Deemed Unthinkable'

The problem with migration is Bulgaria is systemic, not sporadic, according to Gen Miho Mihov, Chair of the parliamentary defense committee and MP from the ABV Movement (Alternative for Bulgarian Revival).

In a Monday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Gen Mihov claimed that there was no enduring continuity in the country?s security and defense policy.

He argued that Bulgaria needed subordination and not so much coordination, meaning that the responsibilities of each unit had to be clearly defined.

His comments come ahead of a meeting which Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva called with the interior and defense ministries' heads, Veselin Vuchkov and Nikolay Nenchev. The ministers are set to discuss measures to tackle a prospective flow of asylum seekers that Kuneva and other officials say is likely this spring.

Mihov said that Bulgaria was struggling to find the right political course which determined its national security system.

He also described as "unthinkable" Vuchkov's proposal that the army provide as many as 500 troops to patrol along the border together with police officers. The Interior Minister also considers extending the border fence with Turkey a short-term priority, a matter which would require additional involvement from the ministry.

Mihov for his part argued that neither the Foreign Ministry nor the remaining part of the public administration were prepared to handle the problem, adding that it was absurd to suggest that the Interior Ministry could hand over the responsibility of guarding the border to the Defense Ministry.

Mihov claimed that such a move was unthinkable and insisted that the Border Police unit was best equipped to guard the border and the job was a responsibility of the Interior...