Slovenia will reintroduce Police checks at the border with Croatia and Hungary from Saturday for at least ten days due to heightened security risks amid organised crime and the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
According to law enforcement information, organised crime is on the rise in the Western Balkans, with organised groups becoming increasingly interconnected and intertwined.
In addition, members of various terrorist and extremist movements and groups are retreating from conflict zones “to avoid the consequences of their actions or even with the intention of endangering our security and stability”, the government said yesterday.
There was a risk that such people would infiltrate migration flows and try to enter Slovenia illegally, it said.
Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said people along the border could continue to live normally despite the return of police checks.
“My instruction to the police commissioner was to ensure normal life and normal crossing for people living along the border,” he said.
The minister apologised in advance to all citizens and residents of Slovenia who will be stopped and asked to show their ID “because the terrorist threat in Europe is still high”.
The decision comes after Italy announced the same measure at its border with Slovenia as of Saturday due to the changed security situation in Europe and the Middle East.
Poklukar has assured his Croatian counterpart Davor Božinović that Slovenia will adapt the measure to people living near the border and expects Italy to do the same.
“I once again told Italian Minister Matteo Piantedosi that I want Italy to ensure the normal flow of people living along the border,” Poklukar said, noting that the border closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic had made life along the border “unbearable”.
All three interior ministers will discuss the issue at a meeting in Trieste in early November.
While the government cites an increased risk of terrorism, it has long been expected that police controls would be reintroduced, at least at the border with Croatia, where illegal migration surged after Croatia joined the Schengen zone at the beginning of the year and police controls were abolished.
Croatia reacted coolly to the news, with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković saying that the checks must remain an exception, used only as a last resort.
The latest police figures show that Slovenian police intercepted more than 48,000 illegal migrants, roughly three times as many as a year ago.
The border regime will be largely the same as it was before police checks were abolished. There will be 14 international border crossings, 12 on the border with Croatia and two on the Hungarian border, plus smaller checkpoints open only to EU citizens.
(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)
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