European migrant crisis

In a surprising twist, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday said Bucharest could now manage the number of refugees the EU is planning to relocate to the Balkan country, although he is still against mandatory quotas imposed by the Commission.

The European Union should urgently work with its partners towards stabilizing the countries of origin and helping transit countries in order to resolve the current migration crisis, Bulgaria said on Wednesday.

The European Commission has warned 19 EU member-states against failure to implement rules on handling waves of asylum seekers now flooding Europe.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans issued the warning as EU leaders gathered in Brussels for an emergency summit on the refugee/migrant crisis on Wednesday.

The quota system for migrant relocation is currently the only possible and right option for Europe, Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva has said.

In a statement to the media also published on her own blog, she has urged on leaders to adopt the plan proposed by the EU Commission and backed by all but for interior ministers at a Tuesday meeting in Luxembourg.

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.

European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos urged Greece and Italy to move forward with the immediate implementation of the EU Interior Ministers’ decision for the relocation of the 120,000 refugees, arriving in Brussels Wednesday morning for the European Commission meeting.

Serbia is not ready to accept "thousands of people" who may wish to stay for a prolonged period of time, says Asylum Protection Center Director Rados Djurovic

According to him, the reason is that the country has the capacity to permanently accommodate 800 migrants and refugees.

EU interior ministers' approval of a plan to relocate migrants with a majority vote rather than unanimously has confirmed divisions in the organization.

Statements of dissatisfied officials that followed quickly widened the gap.

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.

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.