Croatia's Istria County and all the towns in it on Wednesday appealed to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa to reconsider the possibility of introducing selective measures for Croatia, on a region to region basis, given the very good epidemiological situation in Istria.

Late last month, Austria and Slovenia put Croatia on their respective red lists of epidemiologically unsafe countries in light of the global coronavirus pandemic.

“Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, Istria County has responded promptly and was the first region in Croatia to impose restrictions. The timely, resolute and responsible actions by the Istria County COVID-19 Response Team and the great discipline demonstrated by our citizens, visitors and businesses in observing the measures adopted have ensured us a continually good and very stable epidemiological situation,” the county prefect and mayors said in their appeal to the Austrian chancellor.

They added that istria County and all the towns in it welcomed the efforts by the Croatian government to reach an agreement with the neighbours and EU member states on introducing an epidemiological regime at the level of Croatian counties and not the country as a whole.

“We are confident that the opening of Istria to citizens of Austria will be welcomed not only by Istria and Croatia, but also by our friends in Austria,” the appeal said.

In an appeal to Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, the signatories expressed hope that he would take the necessary steps to ensure freedom of movement between Slovenia and Istria given the very good epidemiological situation in Istria.

“The main part of the tourist season is behind us and in that regard we have shown that with a good strategy we can ensure a safe environment both for the local population and for tourists,” they concluded.