Nearly 20% of the hotels along the Southern Black Sea coast are ready to evict Ukrainian refugees from 1 December if the state does not resume funding refugees’ meals.
In mid-November, Bulgaria stopped funding food for refugees, which led to criticism from hoteliers’ organisations.
The Bulgarian government gives €7.5 per hotel accommodation for one refugee per day, but this does not cover meals. Until October, the state paid €2.5 per day for food, which was enough for a basic menu. Hoteliers are now insisting that the state should ensure regular delivery of food products to hotels.
Currently, the Bulgarian Red Cross distributes food packages to hotels and government bases that accommodate Ukrainian refugees. One part of them was purchased with the funds of the national charity campaign, and the other was donated by the United Arab Emirates.
The Red Cross has food reserves enough for one month.
At the beginning of the conflict, the EU gave nearly €100 million to the authorities in Sofia to cover the costs of the refugee crisis.
“Such food aid was provided by the Red Cross. However, the question is how regularly this will happen in the future,” said the regional director of the Bulgarian Tourism Association Elena Antonova to BNR.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
Source: euractiv.com
