Slovenia's government on Friday decided on extending police checks at the border with Croatia and Hungary by another 20 days, until 19 November.

The checks will focus on preventing terrorism, extremism and cross-border crime, the STA news agency reported.

The border controls at crossings were reintroduced on 21 October, after Italy also decided on the police checks and suspension of the Schengen free-travel are regime.

Italy suspended Schengen and reimposed controls at its border with Slovenia after the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel and the recent terrorist attacks in France and Belgium.

Last Thursday, during an EU summit meeting in Brussels, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said that he hoped that Italy would lift those controls by Christmas, and then Slovenia would follow suit.

The interior ministers of Slovenia, Italy and Croatia will meet in Trieste on Thursday for talks on the reimposing of police checks and on reducing the impact of this measure on their respective citizens, particularly cross-border commuters.