Refugee numbers are increasing again, according to Nikolay Chirpanliev, Chair of the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees.

Chirpanliev announced in a Monday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio that some 500 people entered Bulgaria on a monthly basis.

He claimed that the EU was using double standards towards EU Member States with external borders.

"What solidarity are the European partners showing, taking into account that this year we are experiencing the same pressure as we registered at the end of last year. Migratory pressure from Afghanistan increased substantially and we are expecting such pressure from Iraq," he noted.

He suggested that the principle of shared responsibility did not envisage a distribution according to the geographic location of the countries, i.e. the countries characterized by a high concentration of refugee flows absorbing all of the pressure, but amending the principle to take into account the gross social product contributed by each EU country to the common gross social product.

At the beginning of July, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev warned that Bulgaria was expecting an increase in refugee numbers due to the complicated situation in Iraq.

He argued that the situation was unlikely to return to normal in the next few months or even years, adding that the issue would be a challenge to the next government too.