Rumyana Bachvarova

Last year Bulgaria returned around 700 migrants who did not meet the requirements for being granted refugee status.

Following the drop in migrant flow to Bulgaria, the country has returned around forty migrants monthly.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has decided to redistribute the specific porfolios assigned to the four Deputy Prime Ministers, the government's press office has said.

The move is related to the recent appointment of Meglena Kuneva, until then Deputy PM for institutional affairs without a ministerial portfolio, as Education Minister.

Spooked by fears of a sudden upsurge in migrant numbers in the spring, Bulgarian MPs have decided that soldiers will be allowed to help police protect the border against irregular migration.

All 156 MPs present at the plenary session on Thursday backed amendments to the Defence and Armed Forces Act, extending the competences of the army during peace time.

The Bulgarian state will spend BGN 24 M on providing all citizens with emails.

The compulsory state emails will be provided with the new identity documents, private NOVA TV informed on Friday. However, it will not be mandatory to use the e-mails, and a citizen will be able to carry on their correspondence with the state on paper if they find it more convenient.

European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, is to visit the Bulgarian town of Elhovo located close to the border with Turkey on Thursday.

Avramopoulos will inspect the measures applied by Bulgaria in guarding its borders and will assess Bulgarian efforts in managing the migrant flows.

Bulgaria's Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has proposed to use the Army more extensively to help police guard the country's borders.

The proposal will be enacted through changes in the Defence and Armed Forces Act which are being drafted at present, Bachvarova said on Wednesday after a meeting of the coalition government's newly-founded consultative Development Council.

A meeting of heads of parliamentary foreign affairs committees from Council of Europe member states is due in Sofia, Bulgaria, on February 04.

The Bulgarian National Assembly has said the meeting will be themed "Democratic Security, Based on European Identity and Cooperation."

Two illegal female migrants have died of cold exposure near Malko Tarnovo, in southeastern Bulgaria close to the border with Turkey, Nova TV reported on Sunday.

Bulgarian border police found a group of 19 illegal migrants including 12 children in a forest area of Strandzha mountain near Malko Tarnovo where the snow cover was more than 30 centimeters thick late on Saturday.

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova stated on Wednesday that the number of registered crimes had decreased by 4.5 % in 2015 compared to the previous year.

The information presented by Bachvarova shows that a total of 107 870 crimes were registered last year.

Bulgaria's government has approved an additional funding of up to BGN 34.1 M (EUR 17 M) for the continued construction of sections of a wire fence along the country's border with Turkey designed to curb uncontrolled migrant inflow.