Eurasia Press & News
The three neighbours have announced tougher border controls in response to security threats and fears of terrorism related to the Middle East conflict.
Italy announced that it would restore border controls with Slovenia on Saturday. Following this, Slovenia informed Croatia that it would do the same. Slovenia would introduce surveillance on the borders with Croatia and Hungary from Saturday, the Slovenian Press Agency, STA, reported.
The temporary introduction of controls within the Schengen area, which more EU members are resorting to, is a response to the changed security situation.
However, Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic clarified on Thursday that these controls will not resemble the border controls that were in place before Croatia joined the Schengen area.
The Schengen area is a common duty-free area of 27 EU countries. Croatia was the last to join it on January 1, 2023. Within this area, there are no restrictions on the flow of people and goods.
“The Schengen Code allows member states to reinstate internal control in specific emergency situations, but this does not mean a return to the border controls that existed before entering the Schengen area,“ Bozinovic said in Luxembourg, where he was attending a meeting of EU interior ministers.
The tighter controls follow the Hamas attack on Israel and terrorist attacks in Belgium, where a Tunisian citizen killed two Swedes in Brussels, and in France, where a 20-year-old killed a teacher.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said the measures were temporary and did not speculate about what these controls would look like. He stated: “I have the idea that, in principle, all these temporary measures will have a somewhat more casual character.”
“This is not the hard border control as there is on the border of Croatia and countries outside the Schengen area,” Plenkovic said.
Such temporary measures, in cases of emergency, can be adopted for ten days and then extended for two months.
After that, “the one who extends the measures has the burden of proving that these measures are really necessary”, Plenkovic said, adding that he believes that the return of border controls is not a sign of mistrust between EU states but of a changed security context in Europe, with wars and instability in its southern and eastern neighbourhood.
“Croatia in recent times arrested over a thousand migrant smugglers. So, for our part, we are doing a good job here,” Plenkovic said and added that with its 6,700 border police officers, Croatia “does a lot, maybe more than others”.
Bozinovic in Luxembourg also urged that negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina be accelerated in order to conclude a status agreement as soon as possible that would enable the deployment of Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency, in Bosnia.
“Frontex should be deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in the part from which the largest number of illegal migrants come,” said Bozinovic, adding that Croatia has enough police officers and equipment to guard the external borders of the EU successfully.
