European Commission awards 48.2M euro emergency funding to Bulgaria for border and migration management
The European Commission has awarded an additional 48.2 million euro in emergency funding to Bulgaria under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF), the Commission said on December 23.
A sum of 36.2 million euro will be provided to the Ministry of Interior to enhance border management, including for the purchase of border surveillance equipment, surveillance at border crossing points and to improve IT systems for border police, while 12 million euro will be used to further strengthen the management of migration flows.
The award decisions complement the grant agreements signed with Bulgaria in October 2016, which amounted to a total of 101 million euro under AMIF and ISF.
Additional requests for emergency funding are currently being assessed, the European Commission said.
The emergency funding comes on top of the 91 million euro already allocated to Bulgaria under the national programmes for 2014-2020.
/Panorama
