Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov has held an emergency meeting with the European Commission in light of the ongoing border blockade caused by Greek farmers which is hurting the Bulgarian economy, Dnevnik daily reported on January 19 2010.

Borissov told Bulgarian media that he had held discussions with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso on January 19 during which he had requested six million euro in compensation.

"Many European Union directives are being violated. This is not Bulgaria's problem and there is no reason why this country should bear the brunt of the problem," Borissov was quoted as saying by Dnevnik.

"The Greeks, with all due respect, can protest all they like in their own country, but they should not shut our borders. There is a law assuring the free travel of people and freight across the borders within the European Union. Who gives them the right to stop our lorries? This doesn't even happen in the Somalian Gulf," Borissov added.

"Why are the Greeks protesting now, and not in the summer when they have to do the harvest, or at Easter when more than 50 000 Bulgarians go to their country on a holiday? They do it now because they have nothing better to do."

Finally, the Bulgarian Prime Minister said that the Government had submitted an official complaint to the Greek government, as well as the European commission, in which it was said bluntly "we feel for your problems, but enough is enough".

Currently the Kulata-Promahon border crossing point between Bulgaria and Greece has been sealed off to all traffic by the Greek farmers' protests, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on January 19 2010.

There is already a bottleneck of lorries at the border, according to reports. Overnight, about 80 vehicles were allowed to go through, including private cars and some lorries. According to the BNT, Greek farmers at Promahon were very "inconsistent" with their statements and "unreliable" in their actions because they would constantly change their mind as to whether they would allow traffic through.

In order to relieve the strain and facilitate the situation, the Bulgarian Frontier Police are working with Macedonian counterparts to ease traffic regulations along the Bulgarian-Macedonian crossing points.