ZAGREB, October 31, 2018 - The cabinet of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday decided to amend the government's decision of May 2014 on setting up barriers on roads along the borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in a bid to prevent illegal passage outside border crossings, enhance the control of the borderline and curb off all forms of smuggling and trafficking.
Explaining today's amendment, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said that the state border supervision legislation envisaged that all roads and routes that were not in the function of crossing the borders could be obstructed by barriers so as to halt illegal border crossings outside the official border crossings and a decision to that effect was adopted by the Croatian government in April 2014.
The latest inspection on the ground has pointed to the need to set up barriers at 13 additional locations along the state border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Božinović said today.
The appropriate barriers could be cement blocks or ditches that can prevent vehicles from passing, according to the minister's explanation.
All this is supposed to help improve control of the state borders and thwart all forms of smuggling and trafficking along the borderline covered by the Croatian police in the four counties: Sisak-Moslavina, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Lika-Senj and Zadar.
Undoubtedly, the main reason for the decision is the recent increase in the number of illegal crossings of Croatia’s borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Of course, the fact that barriers will be put on roads will not prevent migrants from crossing illegally, they will just have to do it on foot. Given the number of migrants and their determination to reach Western Europe, this decision will certainly not prevent them from trying to enter Croatia.
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