Bulgaria Foreign Minister: Pisanchev Can Help Boost Cooperation on Migrants with Greece

Vladimir Pisanchev can contribute to Bulgaria's cooperation in Greece in tackling the migrant influx through the Balkans, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov told journalists on Thursday.

His comments followed Bulgarian media reports that Pisanchev, a former head of Bulgaria's national security agency DANS is going to to head the country's consular service in Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city.

Asked whether Pisanchev is appropriate for the position, Mitov only said that the appointment of ambassadors and regional consuls has always been decided at closed sessions of the minority coalition cabinet led by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

"This is not a precedent, [these are] people with the necessary knowledge, the state has invested in them," Mitov told reporters in Sofia, according to Focus news outlet.

No official announcement of Pisanchev's appointment has been made yet by the Foreign Ministry in Sofia.

Bulgaria has to step up further its cooperation with neighbouring Greece in tackling migrant flows through the Balkans, Mitov said.

"I think Pisanchev can prove useful in this area," he commented.

Tens of thousands of migrants, most of them from Syria and Afghanistan, are trying to reach Hungary through the Balkans from Greece via Bulgaria's neighbors, non-EU Macedonia and Serbia.