The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) will strengthen veterinary and phytosanitary control at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the border with Turkiye with support from the European Commission, the BFSA press office said on Monday. It noted that experts from other EU member states are expected to assist their Bulgarian colleagues at what is the busiest land border crossing in Europe by employing on-site monitoring, exchange of good practices, and joint training.
The matter was discussed during an online meeting between the BFSA management and representatives of Unit G4: Official Controls at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety.
The BFSA stressed that control at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint is key to the security of the EU internal market, as animals, food, feed, and plants destined for all member states pass through the crossing.
BFSA Executive Director Angel Mavrovski said that despite improvements following the European Commission’s audit in 2025, the systemic risk at the checkpoint remains high. He said that the main problems include the risk of unregulated influence due to private entities operating in control areas, insufficient capacity of the facilities during peak periods, and issues with maintaining the animal zones.
The BFSA also points to shortcomings in identification and physical checks for certain categories of goods, as well as risks of external interference in official control and manipulation of analytical results.
DG Health and Food Safety expresses readiness to support the effort through short-term expert missions and the creation of a joint working group with inspectors from various member states. Options for a longer-term presence of European specialists at the checkpoint are also being discussed.
The BFSA notes that future measures include building its own secure infrastructure for official control, which would not be managed by private parties, as well as a comprehensive assessment of operational processes and their compliance with European requirements for independence and impartiality.
/RY/