The number of officers from the Frontex at the common border between Bulgaria and Türkiye will triple ahead of Sofia’s partial accession to the Schengen Zone on March 31, 2024.
Concerns over human rights violations have led the European Border and Coast Guard Agency to send an extra 500 officers to better manage the migration situation, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
The decision has been confirmed by the director of Frontex, Hans Leijtens, as reported by the German press agency dpa.
Bulgaria has a very important role in guarding the EU’s external borders.
In spite of the 234-kilometre metal fence along the majority of its border with Türkiye, migrants still manage to reach Bulgaria from Türkiye through the Balkan route towards Western Europe.
Decline in Border Crossing Attempts
However, Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens recently said that there has been a nearly 80 per cent decrease in the number of attempts to cross the Bulgarian-Turkish border illegally, compared to last year.
Leijtens’ comments came during a visit to Bulgaria, in which he was accompanied by Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov.
The migrant pressure is under control,” Stoyanov asserted. Bulgaria is a very important partner for us; without Bulgaria, we cannot protect the external borders of the EU.
In addition, Frontex’s statistics revealed that in January 2024, the number of irregular border crossings into the European Union decreased to nearly 14,000, down about one-third compared to December, with the Eastern Mediterranean route registering a 41 per cent decrease.
However, a report from the Agerpres news agency revealed that migration pressure doubled on the Romanian-Hungarian border last year. The same source revealed the border guards of the Nagyvárad Regional Inspectorate, which is responsible for over two-thirds of the Romanian-Hungarian border section, stopped a total of 11,672 persons attempting irregular border crossings last year, almost twice the figures of 2022.
Concerns Over Human Rights Violations
Due to irregular migration concerns cited by Austria and the Netherlands, Bulgaria was stopped from becoming part of the Schengen Zone in December 2022.
However, the country will become part of the EU’s borderless area by the end of this month by air and sea, following Austria’s proposal called “Air Schengen”, while the land border accession continues to be vetoed by Vienna.
But a recent report from an unnamed Frontex officer that reached the Fundamental Rights Office, FRO, and obtained by BIRN claims that Frontex and the European Commission are aware of Sofia’s authorities’ violation of human rights on the latter’s common border with Türkiye, but the EU prioritises the further expansion of the Schengen Area.
