Croatian and Slovenian ministers discuss border control, illegal migrants

NEWS 11.12.202009:11
IGOR KRALJ / PIXSELL

The interior ministers, Davor Bozinovic of Croatia and Ales Hojs of Slovenia, on Thursday held a video meeting on illegal migrants and the protection of border as well as on the regime of cross-border travel during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Slovenian New Agency STA reported.

The minister agreed on seeking solutions for making it impossible for irregular migrants to cross borders illegally, the STA quoted the Slovenian interior ministry’s statement as reading.

They assessed the cooperation between the two ministries and the countries’ police forces as good, adding that the operationally and strategically the cooperation has been recently focused on anti-Covid restrictions and illegal border crossings.

The ministers agreed on the preparation of the system for registering information on the entries/departures and refusal of the entry for citizens from third countries, that is non-European Union members, at the Schengen border.

Hojs expressed dissatisfaction with a high number of illegal entries at the Croatia-Slovenia border, which prompted the Croatian minister to point to a high number of illegal migrants in Bosnia’s areas near its border with Croatia, who are trying to reach destinations in western and northern Europe.

The two ministers pledged to seek a solution to this issue, Slovenia’s media utlets reported.