March 9 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria is ready to build a fence at its border with Greece if migrant flows turn to the country after the so-called Western Balkan route was effectively closed as of Wednesday, the country's defence minister Nikolai Nenchev said.
Moreover, the army is prepared to send some 650-700 soldiers to the border to help the police and the gendarmerie, and, if necessary, their number can be increased, Nenchev said, as quoted by the ministry's press office.
More than 30,000 migrants and refugees are presently stranded at Greece's northern border and cannot proceed further to Western Europe through Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia, as the Balkan countries tightened sharply border controls.
According to the Bulgarian interior minister, Rumyana Bachvarova, the country risks to become the main route for migrants as an alternative to the shut Western Balkan route.
The best option for Bulgaria is the migrant flow to be limited and migrants to stay on the territory of Turkey, Bachvarova said in a broadcast interview for the Bulgarian National Television earlier on Wednesday.
In November 2013, Bulgaria started building a razor wire fence along its border with Turkey to block the flow of people smugglers. Some 95 km of the planned 166 km fence have already been erected.
Although a member of the EU since 2007, Bulgaria is not a member of the bloc's border-free Schengen area.