Slovakia

Only with the cooperation of both the United States and Russia can the conflict in Syria be solved, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said.

Speaking in front of reporters in Parliament, where he arrived to urge support for constitutional changes, he also commented on the migrant crisis and the roots it has in the Syrian conflict.

As many as 852 migrants will be immediately relocated to Bulgaria under the first phase of a EU quota scheme approved by a majority of EU's interior ministers on Wednesday.

Of these, 201 will be relocated from Italy, and 651 will come from Greece, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) has said.

At the extraordinary meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council of the European Union on Tuesday, the interior ministers of the member states adopted with a large majority the proposal of the European Commission for the relocation of 120 000 refugees.

EU Minister of Justice and Interior approved a plan on the relocation of 120,000 refugees and immigrants from Greece, Italy and Hungary to other EU member-states during their extra ordinary session in Brussels, Tuesday. The EU countries reached a majority agreement as Ministers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary voted against the proposed redistribution plan.

An extraordinary meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council of the European Union over the refugee crisis is scheduled to take place in Brussels on Tuesday.

The interior ministers will discuss the proposal of the European Commission for the emergency relocation of 120 000 people from member states exposed to massive migratory flows, namely Italy, Greece and Hungary.

Foreign ministers from four ex-Communist countries of eastern Europe are meeting on Monday with officials from the current EU president Luxembourg to declare their opposition to a proposal to introduce binding quotas for redistribution of migrants among EU member states.

The European Parliament on Thursday gave the green light to a plan put forward by the EU Commission under which 120 000 migrants will be relocated from Greece, Italy, and Hungary.

Bulgaria's Interior Minister has voiced the preference of her government as to the nationality and religion of migrants that Bulgaria is to accept under the EU quota scheme pending approval.

Rumyana Bachvarova told private national NOVA TV on Thursday that, when asked about that by Europe, Sofia had pointed to Syrian families.

Some 4000 migrants have crossed into Croatia over the past 24 hours, the country's public broadcaster HRT has said.

Government data cited in the report suggests that, as of Thursday morning, more than 5650 people have found their way into Croatia since Hungary moved to close its border with Serbia. Another 4000 are expected in the next few days.

Romania and Bulgaria are planning to use the migrant crisis, trading their approval of quotas for access to the Schengen borderless area, the Daily Express has claimed.