Internal Security Fund

Holding small dogs in their arms or dressed in minimal clothing with bare feet, shivering from the cold, victims of trafficking and exploitation networks beg on the main streets of Greece’s major cities. These individuals mainly come from Romania and Bulgaria.

The Border Police will also watch over the security of voting machines. According to the Bulgarian Minister of Interior, special arrangements have been made for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The Romanian Border Police in 2017 participated in 13 joint operations and a pilot project organised under the aegis of the FRONTEX European Border and Coast Guard Agency, having deployed 370 border guards and four sea-going boats, according to the 2017 activity report released by head of the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) Ioan Buda on Thursday.

As announced by President Juncker in his 2017 State of the Union Address, the Commission is today presenting alongside its 11th Security Union Report a set of operational and practical measures to better defend EU citizens against terrorist threats and deliver a Europe that protects.

In a long article titled “Where did the money go? How Greece fumbled the refugee crisis”, British news-site theguardian.com raises examines the issue of large sums of cash directed to Greece to alleviate the plight of the refugees entering the country was squandered.

Greece is struggling to make use of EU money for migrants and refugees after having absorbed just a fraction of the 509 million euros in funding for up to 2020.

So far, Athens has used about 2 percent of 294.6 million euros from the EU's Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, and around 25 percent of 214.8 million euros from the Internal Security Fund.

The European Commission says it has granted additional funding to Bulgaria to help it deal with the migrant crisis.

EUR 36.2 M will be provided to the Interior Ministry to enhance border management, buy border surveillance equipment and improve IT systems for border police, the Commission has said in a statement.

Due to the migrant situation on the Bulgarian-Turkish border and the continuing strong migrant pressure, on September 15, the Interior Ministry sent to the European Commission five projects requesting financing under the Emergency Assistance Instrument from the Internal Security Fund and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, reported the Interior Ministry.

The European Commission on Friday announced 3.5 million euros in emergency funding for Greece to cover the running costs for human resources in the First Reception Centres that will be set up on the Greek islands of Kos, Lesvos, Samos, Chios and Leros.

Bulgaria will introduce new identity cards that will contain biometric data allowing passage through electronic gates at the EU airports, Deputy Interior Minister Krasimir Tsipov has said.