Last year Bulgaria returned around 700 migrants who did not meet the requirements for being granted refugee status.

Following the drop in migrant flow to Bulgaria, the country has returned around forty migrants monthly.

This was stated by Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova after her participation in the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council in Brussels on Thursday.

Bachvarova reminded that Bulgaria had expressed readiness to admit a hundred migrants from Greece and Italy under the resettlement quota mechanism, but only two people have arrived so far.

This was largely due to technical problems with the degree of readiness of other countries and checks conducted on candidates.

At the JHA council, Bulgaria reaffirmed its commitments to EU quotas.

The participants in the meeting agreed that there is need for joint efforts in dealing with the migrant crisis and implementation of decisions already taken.

Bulgaria expressed its support for the establishment of European border and coast guard.

Bachvrova assured that Bulgaria is already conducting systematic checks on its borders.

The council approved the proposed amendments to the Schengen Borders Code which foresee the introduction of systematic checks of EU citizens on the external borders of the Union as part of measures aimed at improving security.