ZAGREB, November 4, 2018 - The MOST party's political secretary and lawmaker Nikola Grmoja, and a member of the party's main committee Nizar Shoukry, a Croatian citizen of Syrian descent, said on Saturday at a news conference dedicated to migrations that Croatia was a humane country but that it was also supposed to defend its borders from the flow of migrants.
"For us, two things are essential, to protect our state borders and to keep Croatian citizens safe," said Shoukry, a doctor who has been living in Croatia for 35 years and who has been decorated for his humanitarian work during the migrant crisis in 2015.
Shoukry, a vice-chairman of the Vukovar-Srijem County Assembly, said that he was in contact with migrants on a daily basis and praised the Croatian police for how they handle the situation along the borders. The police are doing a great job and prevent illegal crossings of migrants from Serbia, he said, underscoring that "while the migrants sleep in the open, police officers stand in the open."
"Migrants are given hot meals, whereas the police are given bread and pate, and that has been going on for three years."
Shoukry said that Croatia was in an unenviable position. "Being a Croat who also knows the mentality of those from the East, I propose that we immediately start working on fortification barriers, first along the southern border and then on the east," the MOST official said.
He said that the southern border should be safeguarded so as to create conditions for the next tourist season, explaining that tourists won't come to Croatia if they hear that migrants are entering the country without control.
He also criticised the foreign ministry for not having a firm stance towards Germany and the European Union, which he said had caused havoc and now they should find a solution for "all those unfortunate people who have passed thousands and thousands of kilometres in pursuit of peace and security."
Grmoja criticised both the foreign ministry and President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović over their attitude of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. He said that the MOST party would like to know why the president changed her mind and decided not to go to Marrakesh for a conference on that document.
He also criticised Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinovic Burić for claiming that the Global Compact was not meant to be signed but that she kept silent about the information that the document should be adopted.
For more on migrant crisis in Croatia, read here.
