The Slovenian government on Thursday extended temporary border controls with Croatia and Hungary for another 20 days, until 21 December, STA news agency reported.

The decision was adopted at the proposal of the police.

The government instructed the Foreign Ministry to notify the European Union member states and the European Commission of its plan to extend border controls for another six months, starting from 22 December.

Minister of the Interior Bostjan Poklukar said that border controls would be extended for six months because of a medium level of terrorist threat in Slovenia and a high level of threat in the European Union.

“I hope the level of terrorist threat will decrease and the measure will be lifted, but right now we are doing all we can for the sake of security in Slovenia,” Poklukar said.

People living in the border areas will not feel the border controls measure. We don’t want long lines and traffic jams at the former border crossings, the minister said.

Border controls with Croatia are being extended because of the terrorist threat and because of this year’s more than 50,000 illegal border crossings from Croatia. The ministry offered Zagreb bilateral assistance from the Slovenian police and Frontex, the EU border and coast guard agency, he added.

Poklukar said that Croatia can expect a Schengen evaluation by member states to review the work of the Croatian police and border authorities. After an agreement with Minister of the Interior Davor Bozinovic, cooperation with the Croatian police is much better, he added.

As for Italian border checks, Poklukar said that his Italian counterpart had told him informally that they were considering extending them for another six months, and that the two countries were working on ensuring that the people living along the border were not affected by the measure.