A change of Slovenian policy on refugee admission.
Slovenia will request from Croatia to submit a list of refugees which are being transported and detailed information about them. If it does not receive such information, Slovenia will refuse to accept the refugees, said Boštjan Šefic, the State Secretary at the Slovenian Ministry of the Interior. Šefic, who is in charge of the migrant issue, said that the introduction of controls on the internal borders between some Schengen countries was a temporary measure, but warned that Slovenia is ready to introduce additional control measures on its border with Croatia if the migrant crisis continues, reports Index.hr and Vecernji List on January 6, 2016.
Slovenia has recently requested a meeting with the Croatian authorities in order to clarify its proposals about additional controls of migrants passing through the Balkan route, with the goal of their identification. One of the main requirements is that the Croatian police in the future must submit with each train sent to Dobova a list of migrants with their personal data. If the lists are not delivered, Slovenia will refuse to accept the migrants.
Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec confirmed that Slovenia has recently introduced additional controls of migrants, but has denied allegations of some media that Slovenia has discovered terrorist suspects among migrants. Erjavec said that the only accurate information is that the police are checking the military status of migrants, including whether any of them actively participated in the fighting in Syria, but added that such suspicions have not been confirmed.
Šefic added that the Slovenian government has not received any notification from Italy about the alleged re-establishment of border controls and checks of documents at the Slovenian-Italian border crossings, which was reported by Milan daily Corriere della Sera.
Earlier this week, Slovenian police announced that they are seeking more translators for Arabic language which will help them in identification of migrants, in order to determine whether they came from Syria or some other country where there is no threat of war.
Slovenian president Borut Pahor expressed his concern with measures to reintroduce controls at some borders within the Schengen area. “The introduction of border controls will not bring anything good for Schengen, but it is not the definitive end of it”, said Pahor. Slovenian President said that the reintroduction of border controls within the Schengen area is a temporary measure due to the large refugee wave, but most European leaders share his opinion that it is necessary to establish a joint European asylum and immigration policy as soon as possible, in order for Schengen Agreement not to be jeopardized.
“Freedom of movement is perceived as a great and important achievement. If individual national governments within the European Union start introducing unilateral measures, a change in the European mentality could occur”, said the Slovenian President.
