September 19 (SeeNews) - The European Commission has said it will provide up to 108 million euro ($120.5 million) in emergency funding to Bulgaria to help the country improve border management and tackle migration inflow.
"The aim is to raise the figure to 160 million euro in the coming weeks, to fully respond to the needs of the Bulgarian government," the commission said in a statement late on Friday following an informal summit of EU leaders in Slovakia's capital Bratislava.
Bulgaria said earlier on Friday it has asked the European Commission to extend 160 million euro ($179.7 million) in financial assistance to help the country strengthen the protection of its border with Turkey amidst increased migration pressure. The projects include upgrading of border control equipment; expanding the capacity for integrated monitoring; upgrading of communication and information systems, and strengthening Bulgaria's capacity to operate the refugee centres on its territory.
Last week, EU border management Frontex deployed a total of 173 officers in Bulgaria, responding to a request for additional operational support from the Bulgarian authorities.
The commission is also working to ensure an extra 200 guards and 50 extra vehicles are deployed at the Bulgarian external borders as of October.
The EU has already awarded around 12 million euro in emergency support to Bulgaria in order to respond to the migration crisis in order to provide accommodation, food and medical supplies to migrants and to provide equipment to the Bulgarian border guards.
Bulgaria's interior ministry said on Saturday that police have detained 15 irregular migrants near Sofia together with two suspected people smugglers. The foreign nationals all claimed to be of Afghan origin.
They were apprehended when police stopped for inspection the two cars they were travelling in close to the village of Vakarel, some 40 km southeast of Sofia, the ministry said in a statement. The car drivers, whose identity was not disclosed, were put into police custody pending criminal investigation.
Vakarel lies close to Trakia motorway linking Bulgaria’s border with Turkey with the border with Serbia via Sofia. Irregular migrants have been increasingly used the route from Turkey via Bulgaria to reach the wealthier countries of western Europe following the closure of the Western Balkans route from Greece via Macedonia and Serbia earlier this year.
A total of 12,164 foreign nationals have been registered with Bulgaria's state agency for refugees in the first eight months of the year, the agency said last week.
($=0.8959 euro)