Bulgaria Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Mitov attended Friday a High-Level Ministerial Road Transport Summit near the coastal city of Varna.
 

“We should focus on the source of the problem – the situation in Syria and the Islamic State (IS),” he said, speaking with journalists.
 

“We have made our proposals. Work has to be done on that in a much more serious coalition,” Mitov stated.
 

According to him, Russia should be part of the solution and not impose conditions, putting the rest of the coalition against the IS in a difficult situation.
 

“In the meantime, work needs to be done in several directions. First, [this is] discouraging migration pressure. This could be done through building migration centres outside the EU borders. The clear message the refugee status does not grant anyone the right to stay forever in the frames of EU countries should be conveyed. Mutual protection at Europe’s borders has to be strengthened as well as the fight against people smuggling and human smugglers. This is not a new phenomenon for Europe yet these people smuggling channels seem to have already replaced drug trafficking and goods smuggling channels. They [people smugglers] earn good profits and penalties amount to nothing. Bulgaria has already taken measures to introduce harsher punishments for those involved in this kind of activity,” Mitov stated.
 

He announced the country would not consent to the establishment of a buffer zone for refugees on its territory.