ZAGREB, August 25, 2019 - Croatian Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Saturday that a joint European solution was the best response to the issue of illegal migrants, after Slovenia decided to continue putting up fencing along its border with Croatia.
Asked by the press about Slovenia's decision on setting up an additional 4-kilometre fence in a bid to counter a rise in illegal border crossings, Božinović said that obviously countries differently responded to the influx of irregular migrants, and the best way would be to act jointly in compliance with the European solution.
Božinović said that Croatia's well-trained and well-equipped law enforcement officers can cope with the pressure of illegal border crossings. What the Slovenians are doing, is their own decision, he added.
In an effort to protect itself from an influx of migrants Slovenia has begun to erect additional fencing along the border with Croatia in those sections where migrant entries have increased. Recently Slovenia media have reported that an additional 4 kilometres of panel fencing will be erected over the next few weeks due to the increased number of illegal crossings, adding that the areas along the Kupa river between Vinica and Žunica will then be thus entirely protected.
There are currently 179 kilometres of "temporary technical barriers," along the border with Croatia, 116 kilometres of which is barbed wire fencing and 63 kilometres of panel fencing.
Slovenia's authorities said a few days ago that as many as 1,740 crossings of illegal migrants had been registered in July alone, which is record high monthly number since the migrations tide in 2015-2016.
A majority of those irregular migrants have come from Pakistan, Algeria and Afghanistan.
In the first seven months, the Slovenian police registered 7,415 arrivals of irregular migrants, and they conducted readmission for 4908 migrants to neighbouring countries. Also, 416 illegal migrants were readmitted to Slovenia.
More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.
