At the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva expressed concern over the migratory pressure towards Italy in recent weeks and demanded that the EU put in place effective policies for the return and readmission of illegal immigrants, including by continuing the efforts for concluding the respective agreements with African countries, but also with other countries of origin and transit in the Middle East and in Asia.

Minister Zaharieva also insisted on a deepening of the EU’s political commitment to the Western Balkans and the countries of the so-called Eastern Partnership – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.