General Directorate "Border Police" begins a complete reorganization of its activities on the borders with Romania and Greece in connection with the upcoming entry into the Schengen area. This became clear during a briefing at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the director of the institution, Anton Zlatanov, presented the planned changes.
"We are starting a reorganization of our activity. Under no circumstances will we allow the two internal borders with Romania and Greece to be uncontrolled. On the contrary, we will change the organization of work", said Zlatanov.
Specific measures on both borders
On the border with Greece, compensatory measures will be introduced in the border area aimed at countering illegal migration, drug trafficking and smuggling of prohibited goods.
Regarding the Romanian border, border control at checkpoints will continue during the first six months, but with a changed intensity. "Only risky vehicles and citizens will be checked in order to continue to guard the borders and be good partners in countering cross-border crime," explained the director of the "Border Police".
Infrastructure preservation and experience exchange
Buildings at border posts will be preserved, this decision taking into account the experience of Western European countries, which have encountered difficulties in regaining control due to removed infrastructure.
Official Minister of the Interior Atanas Ilkov announced the upcoming training of Bulgarian employees with their colleagues from Austria and Hungary next month. The aim is to learn good practices in carrying out internal border checks in the European Union.
Reallocation of human resources
Anton Zlatanov assured that the reorganization will not lead to layoffs. "Now we have to double, triple the capacity of our activity. Some of our employees, who have been working at the border posts until now, will receive changes and new functions and will work in the form of carrying out police checks in the border area," he explained.