Bulgaria will send between 400 and 700 soldiers to its borders with Greece and Turkey, the government announced Thursday, August 26, while the European Union fears an influx of migrants from Afghanistan.
Read alsoAfghanistan calls on Europe to stop deporting Afghan migrants
"
The pressure on the Bulgarian borders is increasing,
" Defense Minister Georgy Panayotov said in a statement. The soldiers "
will ensure a protection mission (...) and if necessary assist the gendarmerie and the border police, in particular for the construction of barriers
", he declared on the sidelines of a joint exercise by the Bulgarian-American forces. in the south of the country. This decision comes as the Interior Ministry has observed an increase in the number of illegal Afghans arrested for a week.
Bulgaria, which is on the migrant route from the Middle East to Europe, between 2013 and 2018 erected a 259 km barbed wire fence on its border with Turkey (south-east of the country).
However, due to a lack of maintenance, some were able to enter the territory and transit through the country.
The poorest member of the European Union, Bulgaria itself has never taken in large numbers of migrants, most of them leaving before even obtaining refugee status.
The EU, divided on the issue, will bring together the 27 interior ministers on Tuesday to discuss the situation following the Taliban takeover and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by the deadline of 31 August.