EU border protection agency Frontex will triple the number of its officers at Bulgaria's external Schengen borders with Turkey and Serbia.
From March 20, there will be a further 500 to 600 Frontex officers in Bulgaria, explained agency director Hans Leijtens on Thursday at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on Bulgaria's border with Turkey.
Leijtens and Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov had previously inspected the guarding of Bulgaria's land border with Turkey, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.
Bulgaria has a "very important" role in guarding the EU's external borders, Leijtens emphasized.
Bulgaria has been protecting the EU's external border with Turkey since 2017 with a 234-kilometre metal fence financed by Brussels, featuring barbed wire and thermal imaging cameras.
Despite this, migrants often cross it irregularly with the help of smugglers. People from war and crisis zones often want to dodge border crossings so that they avoid being registered in the poorest EU country, Bulgaria, allowing them to continue their journey to Central and Western Europe - usually via non-EU country Serbia.
The Bulgarian-Serbian border is 341 kilometres long.
Leijtens said in the BTA report that Frontex not only protects the borders, but also European values. The new Frontex officers in Bulgaria will also include experts in human rights.
Leijtens also promised Bulgaria his "full support" in fully joining the Schengen area.
Bulgaria is to join the border-free Schengen area from the end of March, though only its air and sea borders are included as a decision is still pending on lifting checks at land borders.