On 8 April, The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs to the European Parliament (LIBE) held a hearing on the Cooperation Frameworks on border and migration management with Bulgaria and Romania. The Cooperation Frameworks build on the results from the six-month Pilots projects, carried out in Bulgaria and Romania in 2023.

The exchange of views took place with:

• Mihai-Cătălin Necula, State Secretary, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Romania
• Olivier Onidi, Deputy Director-General in charge of Schengen & Internal Security, Euorpean Commission (HOME.DDG2)
• Nina GREGORI, Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA)
• Desislava Todorova, on behalf of Border Violence Monitoring Network

Through its cooperation with Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), Center for Legal Aid Voice in Bulgaria received the valuable opportunity to participate in the hearing as the only representative of the civil society.

The exchange of views on Bulgaria and Romania demonstrated how unpopular the migration situations and the migration policies of the both countries are; the disconnect between adopting policies and the realities on the ground; and how skinny the space of the civil society in decision-making processes is.

The only representative of civil society was our colleague – Adv. Desislava Todorova in a plenary debate of the European Parliament on cooperation in border management and migration