Fewer migrants are illegally crossing the Czech-Slovak border as winter draws in, yet Czechia decided that border checks, while less strict, should continue.
On Wednesday, the Czech government decided that border controls at the Slovak-Czech border should be extended until 25 January 2023.
“The number of intercepted illegal migrants is decreasing, and although the situation at the border is not yet ideal, there has been a significant improvement. Therefore, from 27 December 2022, the checks will only be random,” said Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan.
The government has also extended by 30 days the period for which soldiers can be deployed at the border. However, due to the new, more flexible form of inspections, their number will be reduced by half, to 40.
Since the border checks were introduced in September of this year, Czech officers have checked more than two million people. More than 9,000 attempts for illegal migration were detected, while 134 people suspected of smuggling were detained.
Slovakia disbands migrant tent town
Amid decreasing migration pressure, a migrant tent town in the city of Kúty near the Czech border has been disbanded, Slovakia’s Interior Ministry, which set up the tent town to respond to the increasing flow of mostly Syrian and Afghan migrants who are arriving from Hungary into transition country Slovakia, announced on Tuesday (20 December).
At the end of September, Austria and Czechia imposed temporary border controls on Slovak borders as the situation became more serious. Despite the consideration, Interior Minister Roman Mikulec decided against the border controls on Hungarian borders and sent the police troops to help on the Hungarian-Serbian border instead.
“On Tuesday, the occupants began to be gradually removed and we started the sanitation of tents and interior furnishing. Subsequently, we proceeded to remove other technical equipment so that the tent camp would be completely dismantled by the end of the week at the latest,” said Michaela Kaňová, Director General of the Crisis Management Section.
On average 150 migrants and refugees have so far stayed at the tent town, with nine currently living there, while the others have been moved to two other Migration Office facilities, where they can stay for up to seven days.
(Michal Hudec | EURACTIV.sk, Aneta Zachová | EURACTIV.cz)
Source: euractiv.com
