Picture: AFP
Sofia. “We do not aim at making Bulgaria and Macedonia a “waiting room for refugees”,” said Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian Minister of the Interior for Building and Transport, speaking Friday at a press conference in relation to a ministerial conference held earlier in the frames of the Security Priority Area of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, FOCUS News Agency reported.
The event was dedicated to counteracting international terrorism.
Rumyana Bachvarova, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for Coalition Policy and Public Administration and Minister of Interior, remarked Bulgaria protected its border in line with Schengen standards and had had the technical readiness to join the Schengen Area since 2012.
“The subject of Schengen remains an [open] subject for Bulgaria as it is part of our agreement on EU accession. We understand the situation in Europe and think meeting our obligations is more important than insisting on additional rights our citizens could have. Without dropping the subject from the agenda, we will take the situation into consideration as we should act in the interest of all countries,” Bachvarova stated.
“Germany and Bavaria do not aim to turn Macedonia and Bulgaria into a “waiting room for refugees”. Germany aims at attempting in all possible ways to decrease the number of incoming refugees and this happening sharply and lastingly as we are not capable of accepting another million of refugees this year,” Herrmann stated.
“To achieve this, talks are held with the Turkish government with the idea of interrupting the refugee influx on Turkish territory and their not leaving Turkey. Meanwhile, Germany [should] clearly and explicitly say it is not capable of accepting such a high number of refugees. We aim at making our explicitness reach the countries refugees come from as everyone is aware they do not want to come to Bulgaria and Macedonia; their goal is Germany,” Joachim Herrmann added.

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