The rates of illegal migration through Bulgaria are relatively low, the impact of refugee crisis on Bulgarian society at this stage being primarily in political and psychological terms, while the actual pressure, including that which is economic and social, remains relatively low in comparison with a number of other European states, especially those from South and South-East Europe.

The conducted national representative opinion poll demonstrates that in Bulgaria the attitude towards refugees is ambivalent, being strongly susceptible to the influence of public messages. The Bulgarian society is charged with a number of fears with respect to the refugees but for the vast majority of the Bulgarian population (with the exception of 5%) these fears have not transformed into hatred against foreigners and are free from the ideological burden of xenophobia. The majority of the population believes that refugees represent a threat to the national security of Bulgaria by virtue of difficulties with integration, fear of foreign religion, ethnicity, and culture, but above all due to the concern that our state is in dire straits economically. The prevailing opinion is that the solution to the problem with refugees should be common for all countries within the EU.

As an external border of the EU, Bulgaria holds an utmost interest in the adoption of a single all-European approach and search for a solidarity-based resolution of the problem.