The number of migrants entering Croatia illegally has soared since the country joined the EU’s passport-free Schengen area on 1 January, officials said on Thursday.
According to police data, some 2,500 migrants entered Croatia in January.
Zoran Ničeno, the deputy head of the national police chief, said that out of that number, around 1,400 have applied for asylum – an increase of 600% compared to January 2022, state broadcaster HRT reported.
Croatia lies on the so-called Balkan migrant route, which goes all the way from Greece and Bulgaria, across the Western Balkans, to Croatia and Slovenia, and on to Western Europe.
(Zoran Radosavljević | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
