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| Containers founded by EU - Photo from Matteo Bastianelli, l'Espresso |
Bulgaria, the poorest nation in the EU, has a refugee crisis. In the
second half of last year, hundreds of undocumented Syrians arrived every week,
putting a strain on a country ill-prepared for the flood of refugees escaping a
civil war.
While the number of Syrians headed to Bulgaria was nothing compared
with the hundreds and thousands who’ve escaped to Turkey or Lebanon – Syrian
refugees account for an estimated 19 percent of Lebanon’s population – it was
far more than Bulgaria had ever expected to receive, and many more than have
arrived in other European countries. According to government statistics, 11,606
refugees entered Bulgaria last year, up from an average of about 1,000 asylum
seekers a year since 2007.
The country has struggled to find the resources and space to handle
them all, even with aid from the EU, which last year pledged 5.6 million euros,
about $7.6 million, to help house, feed and process the new arrivals.
In October, the Bulgarian government built a controversial wire
fence along a 20-mile stretch of the country’s border with Turkey. That’s
significantly reduced the number of Syrians who are crossing but it does little
to solve the problem of those who already are here or who find other routes
into the nation.
