AFP and EuroActiv: Anti-migrant misinformation floods Bulgaria ahead of Schengen entry

Euractiv.com with AFP with analysis about the anti-migrant misinformation in Bulgaria.

A rising tide of anti-migrant misinformation has flooded Bulgaria, stoking rallies and xenophobia ahead of Sofia’s partial accession to the European Union’s visa-free Schengen zone, wrote in analysis AFP and Euroactiv.

EU members Bulgaria and Romania finally got the green signal in December to join the Schengen zone, but only for air and sea travel, from the end of this month, said the analysis and continue: The pro-Western government in the EU’s poorest country has consequently faced attacks both from the left and the far-right.

The authors explained how the leader of the pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party Kostadin Kostadinov, said Bulgaria could become “the world’s biggest refugee camp” and some far-right politicians posted videos on social media they said showed “migrants beating up young Bulgarians” in Sofia.

Last week, Bulgaria dismissed opposition claims of “unprecedented migratory flows” into the country and but Bulgarian officials say its reception centres for asylum-seekers is only 43% full, is also said in the text, suggesting that Kremlin might be behind this with its “predictions of chaos and destruction”.