Factcheck.bg Misinformation: Bulgaria’s Commitments for Schengen & Refugees

The new appearance of factcheck.bg “refutes” Cornelia Ninova’s claim that Bulgaria will accept an unlimited number of Afghans and Syrians in exchange for Schengen. By using creative language and omitting key facts, they actually change Ninova’s words so they can refute them later.

In addition, the factcheck.bg article once again includes an open lie, which can be seen in black and white in the document they are talking about. They omit one of the policies on which Bulgaria is committed to act, the future regulation on migration, and falsely conclude that Bulgaria is committed to act only under the Dublin Agreement.

Claim:

Factcheck.bg claims that Bulgaria has not made a commitment to accept migrants in exchange for admission to the Schengen area. They also claim that the only commitments for Bulgaria are for the Dublin Agreement.

Check:

Ninova’s claim that Bulgaria accepted an additional protocol in exchange for Schengen admission is true. Ninova nowhere mentions that it is about “additional refugees”, but only about Afghans and Syrians, without specifying that they are different from those for whom we are responsible.

Also, the Schengen area includes the lifting of air, water and land borders. Even in Article 1 of the regulation on the abolition of internal borders in the EU (governing the Schengen area), it is clearly defined that internal borders mean the common land, airport and sea borders. Compliance with the additional protocol depends on whether Bulgaria will be discussed to enter by land. Factcheck.bg’s claim that they are overturning additional Schengen agreements by stating that Austria’s condition was not included in the Council’s decision is misinformation, since the admission of Bulgaria to Schengen is the Council’s decision on sea and air borders and Austria’s commitment to discuss land borders.

Factcheck.bg’s statement that Bulgaria undertakes to comply only The Dublin agreement is a lie, as Bulgaria undertakes to comply with the future regulation on migration.

Nineveh’s claim

The condition for Bulgaria to enter Schengen by land against the implementation of the agreement can be seen from communication from the European Commission, which describes that with the negotiations on December 30, the delegations of Bulgaria, Romania and Austria agreed to accept the document containing an agreement on the protection of the external borders, as well as the restriction of secondary movements. This document also contains the decision to lift Austria’s veto and explicitly states that the parties agree to discuss the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into Schengen by land, depending on the fulfillment of the accepted commitments.

The Council’s decision on the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen Not contains the full acceptance of Bulgaria and Romania in Schengen. According to the Schengen Regulation, which regulates the abolition of border controls on persons crossing internal borders between member states of the union“internal borders” (as defined in Article 2(1)) means:

(a) the common land borders, including rivers and lakes, of the Member States;

(b) Member States’ airports for domestic flights;

(c) sea, river and lake ports of the Member States for regular inland ferry services;

In this sense, the decision of the Council is not the acceptance of Bulgaria into Schengen. The admission of Bulgaria to Schengen is the decision of the Council for sea ​​and air borders I Austria’s commitment, according to the written procedure of December 30, to discuss land ones borders.

Regarding the commitment to accept refugees, it is point 3 of the agreement. It says:

“To work together to limit secondary movements in accordance with European law, in particular by committing to the swift and diligent implementation of the Dublin Regulation in its entirety, by immediately readmitting all refugees for whom Bulgaria and Romania are responsible under the Dublin Regulation (and the future Asylum and Migration Management Policy), without restrictions (especially regarding the number of people to be readmitted within a month), by readmitting refugees with international protection in Bulgaria and Romania, as well as by guaranteeing a quick (maximum 3 working days) response for return/assurance requirements. This is particularly relevant for Afghan and Syrian refugees.”

As can be seen, Ninova’s statement that it is a matter of accepting refugees without a limit on the number is completely true. The creative language of factcheck.bg, in which it is contested that refugees other than those for whom we are responsible are accepted, distorts the words of Ninova, who does not mention additional refugees or those for whom we are not responsible. Factcheck concluded that there was no mention of a “mandatory number of people to be readmitted,” even though Ninova made no mention of one.

Factcheck.bg is lying with its claim that Bulgaria has made a commitment only for the Dublin Agreement. The document clearly states “under the Dublin Regulation (and the future Asylum and Migration Management Policy).

The new policy according to the human rights NGO Amnesty International, the new agreement may place additional responsibility on external borders (such as Bulgaria). The Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, Eve Geddy, states in the article that the new regulation will lead to mass detention of refugees at the borders of the European Union.

The regulation, which is a set of agreements on migration, could be adopted as early as 2024. It even includes a solidarity mechanism where the external borders of the European Union must be supported. This means that Bulgaria can accept less than 100 refugees from Austria. But neither factcheck.bg, nor Ninova, nor even Austria, have any idea how exactly the returns will be in the coming year and under the new regulation.

We only know that there is no limit to their number, as written in the protocol with Austria.

Checked:

The claim of factcheck.bg that Bulgaria has not made a commitment to take in migrants in exchange for admission to the Schengen area is misinformation. Because, according to the signed protocol, Bulgaria has undertaken to take in migrants for whom we are responsible, in exchange for admission to the Schengen area by land.

Factcheck.bg’s claim that Bulgaria is in debt only to comply with the Dublin Agreement is a lie, since the annex explicitly mentions that Bulgaria has agreed to comply with the future regulation on asylum and migration management.

Sources:

PolitiCheck: No, Bulgaria has not signed a protocol for accepting an unlimited number of migrants –

Council of the European Union Communication CM 5950/23 –

New Asylum and Migration Management Regulation –

EU: Migration Pact agreement will lead to a “surge in suffering” –

Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on the Union Code on the regime of movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) –

2024-02-21 19:56:30


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