Refugees not to stay in Europe forever: Bulgarian FM

Bulgarian foreign minister Daniel Mitov here on Wednesday said the idea that many people granted refugee status would remain in Europe forever was wrong.

"We owe compassion and assistance to people fleeing from the horrors of war, but we must make a very important clarification: refugee status is not eternal, it is a temporary status," Mitov said in a speech at the University of National and World Economy.

There are objective criteria, according to which, when the situation stabilizes in refugees' countries of origin, people have to return and participate in the recovery of their homelands, Mitov said.

Mitov also said Bulgaria was practically the first country which had declared that the repatriation of migrants, especially economic migrants, should become a European policy.

So far, this is an obligation and responsibility of the member states, he said.

According to data from the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees, the country granted refugee status to 9,870 people in 2014 and 2015. Endit