Between the beginning of the year and the end of August, Bulgaria has granted refugee status to 12 800 people.

This was announced by Bulgarian Deputy Interior Minister Krasimir Tsipov in an interview for private bTV station on Saturday.

Since the beginning of the year 17 000 illegal immigrants have been detained, the majority of whom have requested refugee status.

Tsipov estimated that the number of people granted refugee status will rise to 15 000 – 17 000 by the end of the year.

For comparison, 12 700 people were granted refugee status for the whole of last year.

The deputy interior minister revealed that several trafficking rings have been busted since the beginning of the year.

Tsipov expressed hope that next week the Legal Affairs parliamentary committee will adopt concrete proposals on countering trafficking.

He noted that the refugees are posing a great challenge to Europe and Bulgaria in particular.

Nevertheless, Bulgaria was strictly fulfilling the requirements of the EU.

As regards the extraordinary meeting of EU interior ministers, which is scheduled to take place on September 14, Tsipov assured that Bulgaria will play an active role in the formulation of refugee policies.

He highlighted that initially Bulgaria was expected to accept 800 refugees under the quota system, but later their number was dropped to 500 people.

The deputy interior minister noted that the government’s policy on refugees was clear and the national council on migration and integration has been actively functioning since the beginning of the spring.