IntMin Bode: Romania can afford to receive migrants from Afghanistan, provided it does the checks

Interior Minister Lucian Bode said on Monday that Romania can afford to receive migrants, provided that its security organisations does the vetting.

"On the migration component: Romania, you know very well, has two custody centres that can host over 200 people, and their occupancy rate is less than 60%. We are talking about close-ended centres. It has six asylum centres. These asylum centres can normally house 1,100 people. These days they can house only 751 because two centres are still undergoing refurbishment, and in the six centres there are only 496 migrants," said Bode.

He added that Romania is ready to receive migrants from Afghanistan, but on condition that the checks be made by its security agencies.

"We are ready to receive in these centres collaborators of our departments, we are ready to receive in these centers people at imminent risk, meaning journalists, magistrates. We are ready to receive students on scholarships in Romania and in general people who are at imminent risk now in Afghanistan. On one condition: that our security agencies do the checks. We are carrying out these analyses on everything that means the national component and, at the same time, I am convinced that tomorrow, in the special meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council, we will pass a joint declaration in which we will present to the member states the common approach of all member states. Romania can afford to receive migrants conditionally. In terms of stopping the flow of migrants at the border, Romania is on the transit route of the Western Balkans," said Bode.

He also said that since January 1, approximately 47,000 migrants have tried to enter Romania - 10,000 were found inside the country's borders, at the entrance or trying to leave Romania - and 37,000 were returned to the border area.