ZAGREB, October 25, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in a lecture at Split's School of Law on Wednesday that the migrant crisis had been affecting the EU's political architecture in recent years, impacting also elections results, and that Croatia was located on a key migration route that could change the whole situation.
"We are on a key migration route that leads from Turkey via Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and the intensity of movement along the route can change everything - it can change our security, our status with regard to our efforts to enter the Schengen area of passport-free movement, our relations with neighbouring countries and eventually our financial and economic stability as well," Plenković told students in a lecture that focused on the advantages of Croatia's EU membership and future challenges."We are on a key migration route that leads from Turkey via Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and the intensity of movement along the route can change everything - it can change our security, our status with regard to our efforts to enter the Schengen area of passport-free movement, our relations with neighbouring countries and eventually our financial and economic stability as well," Plenković told students in a lecture that focused on the advantages of Croatia's EU membership and future challenges.
He said that the political consequences of illegal migration had been felt in the past few years in almost all elections in EU countries, and mentioned in that context France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Poland, where parties that did not favour the EU project were gaining support.
"Those are tectonic changes and it is important that young people understand those processes and judge for themselves what is better and what kind of political and economic goals are useful for development - fragmentation of the European project or its reinforcement," said Plenković.
He noted that Croatia's financial and political interests were accession to the Schengen area and the introduction of the euro as well as building the capacity to control the border with the aim of preventing illegal migrations.
Asked, among other things, when he expected Croatia to join the Schengen area, he said that he expected it to happen during the country's presidency of the EU in 2020.
