Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov has opined that the EU should treat economic migrants with the same attitude it had to current member states from Central and Eastern Europe that were accession candidates back in the 2000s.

"When states in Central and Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, were member candidates, our citizens, if they resided illegally in EU member states, they were sent back... There is no reason for the EU not to apply absolutely the same measures in absolutely the same way with regard to third countries," the Bulgarian National Radio quotes him as saying at a session of foreign ministers of EU member states in Brussels.

Mitov has been among ministers calling on the EU to distinguish between refugees and economic migrants to deal better with  the migrants crisis that reached a new peak last year.

Commenting on UN Secretary General nominations, Mitov has said Bulgaria has not yet announced its endorsement for "tactical reasons".

The UN Security Council is awaiting candidacies until March. UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova is widely described as a "frontrunner", but a number of reports have suggested another Bulgarian, EU Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva, might also be seeking to run.