Border checks in the Schengen area won't prevent terrorism and extremism, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in an interview with France 24, stressing that the protection of the EU's external border and the aligning of Bosnia and Herzegovina's and Serbia's visa policies with that of the EU was the solution.

Asked about Slovenia’s decision to introduce checks on its border with Croatia, Plenkovic said that Ljubljana had just followed Italy’s decision to introduce control on the border with Slovenia, and that other countries like France, Germany and Austria, were also using that possibility.

“I believe that this is a signal to public opinion that governments are caring more about security, but whether such move will actually prevent terrorist attacks or a rise in extremism? I don’t think so. I think the real way is to increase cooperation between our police services and try to exchange as much information as possible, and protect our borders at the real external borders of the European Union,” Plenkovic said.

Controlling migrations along the East Mediterranean route requires, along with stricter control of the Greek-Turkish and Bulgarian-Turkish borders, that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia align their visa policies with those of the EU, he said.

What we have now is people flying to Sarajevo or Serbia as tourists only to turn in one day from tourists into illegal migrants led by smugglers along the green border, he said.

Asked about the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Plenkovic repeated that all EU members agreed that Israel had the right to self-defence but that it should respect international humanitarian law.

After the “terrible terrorist attack by Hamas” and the “massacre of civilians”, it was reasonable to expect Israel’s reaction, Plenkovic said.

He also expressed regret at the failure of talks between Kosovo and Serbia but stressed that it had not been expected that Serbia would de facto recognise Kosovo before the elections in December.