ZAGREB, December 7, 2018 - Croatia is fulfilling all the obligations it took on regarding the EU's migrant policies and no new demands are being put to it regarding migrant policies, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said in Brussels on Thursday.
As far as Croatia is concerned, it is doing everything it undertook to do in 2015 and we are giving our maximum contribution to all the main components of Europe's migration policy, with regard to the prevention of illegal migrations, that is, protection of the external borders, as well as with regard to the issue of solidarity with other member states," Božinović said in Brussels where he was attending a meeting of the EU Home Affairs Council.
He explained that solidarity was reflected in the fact that Croatia had integrated 152 people, Syrian refugees, through resettlement from Turkey, as well as about 80 people who had been relocated from Italy.
Asked whether Croatia had been asked to take on more migrants, Božinović said that that was out of the question.
"That is out of the question. That was taken out of the report on the implementation of the European migration programme. There were some ideas of that nature but they are primarily directed at those countries that haven't shown even an iota of solidarity. Croatia allows legal migrations to the point of it being sustainable for Croatian society and is doing it in such a way that it is not causing any resistance. These people have been integrated, children are going to school and there is no drama over the issue of migrants in Croatia whatsoever," he said.
He underscored that Croatia was confirming its credibility in all relevant elements and that today it was publicly commended for that. "Today Croatia was publicly commended by the chair of the Council of the EU and several other countries for the work of its border police. There was even a proposal that the expertise and experience Croatia's border police have, be shared with other member states," he said.
Božinović also said that he had spoken with some of his counterparts in the EU about the Global Compact on Migration that will be adopted next week in Marrakesh and the fear that it is causing in some member states.
"The thing that sets Croatia apart from other countries that some people in Croatia are referring to, such as Austria and Italy, is that those countries have hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants on their territory and they have their view of that problem. We need a common approach to that global problem that can only be dealt with globally and so far, no one has created any other global organisation but the UN," Božinović concluded.
For more on Croatia’s migrant policies, click here.
