A new detention facility for refugees will be opened on March 15 in Lyubimets by Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Dnevnik daily reported.

The facility is part of Bulgaria's preparation to enter the European Schengen zone, the report said.

The centre is designed to accommodate a potential immigrant wave coming from Turkey. This will serve in parallel with the detention centre near Capitan Andreevo border crossing point where another facility is also operational.

During the discussion of the country's national strategy on migration in January 2011, Tsvetanov said that as a European Member state, Bulgaria should become a country that accepts refugee groups and helps with their permanent accommodation and integration, instead of serving only as a transit state.

Bulgaria accepted more than 1000 refugees in 2010, but according to the authorities, in the next two to three years the trend is likely to increase substantially. Most of the refugees who have remained in Bulgaria have come from countries which are torn by military conflicts – Afghanistan (5600 refugees), Iraq (4600) and Armenia (1800) the report said.

With the ongoing crisis across the Arab world could and Libya in particular, the authorities are bracing themselves for a large influx of immigrants who want to enter Bulgaria and European Union.

Lyubimets detention centre will be followed by another facility in Pustrogor, but if the immigrant wave increased dramatically, "other measures will be implemented," Tsvetanov said.