Slovenian Foreign Minister, Tanja Fajon, said on Monday her government stood ready to introduce controls on the border with Croatia even after Croatia joined Schengen if necessary due to high migrant pressure.

“Now that Croatia is entering Schengen, we naturally don’t want Slovenia to become some pocket with an increase in illegal defectors, migrants, refugees,” she said in Brussels, where she attended a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Interior ministers will decide on Croatia’s Schengen Area accession on 9 December.

Fajon said the Slovenian government would consider the preparatory material for that meeting on Thursday.

The Interior Ministry is recommending that the government support Croatia’s accession, she added.

Fajon said the Slovenian government was preparing a unilateral statement to the effect that by joining Schengen, Croatia is recognising the border arbitration award, which Croatia does not recognise as it believes that Slovenia compromised the arbitration procedure.

Slovenia has been complaining for quite some time about Austria’s occasional border controls, which are contrary to EU law. Therefore it pushes for setting clear rules so that internal controls in the Schengen Area are conducted only when necessary.