As the European Parliament elections approach, the public discourse of certain politicians on the subject of "migrants" is intensifying, in sync with the Kremlin's "refugee crisis" narrative that is spreading across Europe.
Bulgarian parties that want to divert our country from its European path and standard of living continue to abuse people's fears and instill hatred and insecurity through fake news and insinuations - this time about a non-existent "criminal migrant crisis".
The fake news is that there is an unprecedented migrant flow! Foreigners beat people on the streets of Sofia. The state does not ensure the protection of citizens, this is stated in a statement on the Facebook page of the Council of Ministers, reported a BGNES reporter.
There is no "unprecedented migrant flow" in Bulgaria. As of March 11, 2024, a total of 192 persons have been returned from all EU member states according to the Dublin Regulation, which Bulgaria has followed since 2007. From then until today, there have been regular flights on agreed migrant transfers, and in all these years of the requested transfers actually implemented are no more than 20%.
The capacity of the refugee centers under the State Refugee Agency (SRA) is 3,572 accommodation places. At the moment, it is only 43% filled.
In the last week, there were two unrelated criminal incidents involving foreign nationals. In one case, it turned out that the two groups that fought in the center of Sofia knew each other, and the conflict was over a girl, and in the other, minor Bulgarians attacked British medical students of Pakistani origin. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the purpose was robbery, not a racially motivated crime. Thus, a domestic incident and another in which foreign citizens were injured became the occasion for an organized action under the title "migrants out" and a protest with the participation of politicians and MEPs, the Council of Ministers said.
The statement also says that for the whole of 2023, crimes committed by foreign citizens in our country were 287, and by Bulgarians - 4345. For comparison, 10 years earlier, in 2013, the ratio was 285 to 10,221 .
The country continues to improve its efforts to protect its citizens. In Sofia, the capital's mayor Vasil Terziev introduced new preventive measures - the presence of the Municipal Police in the pedestrian zones has been increased. In recent months, the Metropolitan Municipality began to restore video surveillance in the city, which had been without maintenance for 10 months, and over 400 cameras did not work at all. The Ministry of the Interior continues to make every effort to maintain public order and protect citizens from crime.
Instilling fear, panic and uncertainty in citizens is a characteristic approach of dictatorial regimes such as the Kremlin. The predictions of "chaos and ruin" that flooded the public environment in 2022 and 2023 never came true. We urge citizens not to fall for the suggestions related to the new false political narrative about the "thousands of criminal migrants" roaming the streets, the Council of Ministers said categorically. /BGNES
