It has been 10 years since Bulgaria last had a working national refugee integration programme. Despite the advocacy efforts of international organisations, NGOs and academia, no government in the last decade has secured a mechanism to effectively support newcomers to the country.

Immediately after Bulgaria joined the EU, more specifically in the period 2008 – 2013, it had a relatively well-functioning National Refugee Integration Programme managed by the State Agency for Refugees. This programme provided services such as Bulgarian language training, social orientation and cultural adaptation, vocational training, translation/interpretation services, monthly financial support for rental and utility expenses, monthly health insurance, transport cards, payment of kindergarten fees, and one-off social aid payments. The programme was small (assisting approximately 100 people each year), but was considered an exemplary practice Eastern Europe. The programme was monitored annually: view the last monitoring report, from 2013, here.  

At the beginning of the so-called European migrant crisis, when more than 1.3 million Syrian and other nationals entered Europe to seek asylum, the Bulgarian government discontinued the National Refugee Integration Programme and local NGOs became the main providers of support for refugees. 2014 marked the first “year of zero integration”, as described in the Monitoring Report on the Integration of Beneficiaries of International Protection in Bulgaria in 2014 by Multi Kulti Collective. For the following 2 years, Bulgaria did not have any targeted policy on refugee integration. 

In 2016, the government adopted a new policy document - Regulation on the terms and conditions of making, implementing and terminating the agreement for the integration of foreigners granted asylum or international protection (updated in 2017) - that transferred the responsibility for refugee integration to municipalities. It envisioned that interested refugees and mayors would sign an “integration agreement” for the provision of a “package” of refugee services that “may include housing, kindergarten or school enrollment of accompanying minors, training in Bulgarian language, health insurance, professional orientation and training programmes, etc”. This mechanism did not see much success because it did not have a coordinating body or national funding. The very few integration agreements that were signed over the years were financed by EU projects. 

The most recent comprehensive monitoring that has been conducted of the overall refugee integration situation in Bulgaria (2021), NIEM, ranks the country among the lowest in the EU, describing it as “marginally supportive” with 37.1 points out of 100.  More specifically, the legal framework of Bulgaria ofr refugee integration scores 55.8 points out of 100. The related policy framework scores significantly lower at 20.94, clearly indicating that good legislation is not a sufficient safeguard for the provision of effective support to refugees. Lastly, implementation and collaboration on integration is given a score of just 9.4 out of 100.

In 2021 and 2022, civil society - led by Multi Kulti Collective and Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrants - consolidated its expertise to develop the country’s first Manifesto on Refugee Integration in Bulgaria – a national programme document and an advocacy tool covering the key areas of refugee integration in Bulgaria. It proposes setting up a new institutional structure and developing a comprehensive integration process with two stages: 1) adaptation and initial integration for asylum seekers and 2) national integration programme for beneficiaries of international protection. In spite of all advocacy efforts, this document has not been considered by any Bulgarian government so far. 

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 and numerous Ukrainian refugees entered Bulgaria, they fell into “the trap of non-existent integration”, according to a policy brief published by the Bulgarian office of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. On 10 March 2022, under severe pressure, the government adopted the Programme for humanitarian support of refugees from Ukraine which offered housing and food provision. It was severely reduced in November of the same year. All advocacy efforts to expand this programme to cover support for temporary protection holders and international protection holders have so far not been successful. 

Currently, refugee integration support in Bulgaria relies mainly on international organisations and the NGO sector, mostly via EU funding.