1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Israel-Hamas warRussia's war in UkraineAnniversary of EU's expansion east
Politics

Bulgaria: Refugees Treated Like Criminals

June 14, 2012

Refugees landing in Bulgaria regularly spend their first days there in detainment camps. This is a clear breach of EU law by a country that hopes to join Europe's passport-free Schengen area soon.

https://p.dw.com/p/15EFJ

Bulgaria's state refugee agency says the refugees must be locked up because there's no other place for them to go. Because the processing of applications for asylum is slow, refugees often spend months in the camps. To escape, some of them falsely claim to have accommodation of their own, but often wind up joining the ranks of the homeless. Due to Bulgaria's poor control of illegal migration and allegations of widespread corruption, many EU member states only want to admit the country into the Schengen area in two steps. Air and sea borders would be opened up first, with land borders to follow at a later date.