After the Refugees Fiasco in Varna: Just Say if You Don’t Want Help, Don’t Waste Resources

Although most of the Ukrainian refugees accommodated in hotels in Varna and the region asked to leave and asked the state to provide them with shelter, they did not want to leave their hotels. This reluctance of the refugees to comply with the request of the state and the effort to provide them with shelter surprised the chairwoman of the State Agency for Refugees Mariana Tosheva. Yesterday, an organization was made for their transfer to state resorts in Ribaritsa and Panichishte but with about 200 requests, at the last moment, only five people got on the provided buses.

The others said they would find shelter in Bulgaria on their own or return to Ukraine.

"In the polls conducted among 45,000 people, 80% said they would need shelter. I would compare this to a false signal to telephone 112. The state wastes human and financial resources," Tosheva said.

She threatened that, if necessary, the Ukrainian refugees would finally be accommodated in the migrant center in Elhovo.

"It may turn out that the refugee center in Elhovo is a container settlement that can accommodate up to 1,700 people, it may be a necessary resource. If necessary for various reasons, mostly the whims of the Ukrainians, they can be accommodated there. Okay, welcome there we accommodate all migrants! What is the problem with being accommodated, whether you are from Ukraine or Afghanistan?" The SAR chairman was indignant.

Refugees from Ukraine must vacate most hotels by the seaside so as not to interfere with the normal course of the summer tourist season. For them, the state provided bases and hotels in the interior of the country, paying BGN 15 to hoteliers for three meals a day and accommodation for refugees. Tosheva called on all refugees from...