Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said at the Conference on Border Management in Vilnius he was pleased that more and more attention was being paid to the protection of the EU's external borders, the ministry said on Friday.

“I am confident the time has come for all of us, in the spirit of mutual trust, to make a step forward together and find as soon as possible a common sustainable solution to the challenges of migration and border protection,” he said.

Bozinovic said this was the seventh year in a row of increased migration pressures and that they were increasingly complex and mass-scale. However, Croatia does not plan to set up barriers on its borders but is focusing on the application of new information systems and their interoperability, he added.

Hence, Croatia hopes to join the Schengen Area as soon as possible because only then will it be able to fully utilise those systems, the ministry said in a press release.

Croatia stands ready to put all its knowledge and experience, acquired through migration management and the recently completed Schengen evaluation, at the disposal of other EU member states, Bozinovic said, adding that contact has been established with Lithuanian representatives about the possibility of exchanging experience.

Regarding the situation on the eastern border, Croatia fully condemns the unacceptable instrumentalisation of migrants by the Belarus regime and the direct assistance to migrants in illegally entering Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, the press release said.

Bozinovic welcomed and commended the strong diplomatic actions by the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs towards Iraq and the readiness of the European Asylum Support Office, Frontex and Europol to rapidly sent their troops to the EU’s eastern borders.

That demonstrates the EU’s capability to provide urgent operational assistance to member states faced with sudden pressure, the press release said.

It added that Bozinovic sees added value to Schengen’s smooth functioning in the set of measures strengthening police cooperation at EU level, including joint patrols.

In Lithuania, Croatia joined a statement which underlines that the security and integrity of the Schengen Area must not be jeopardised and that the area without internal border control can function only if the external borders are properly protected, the press release said.