The lastest on the migrant crisis in Croatia, including the politics…
The Croatian train which was held in Hungary for the last couple of weeks left Hungary yesterday at 10:35 am and around noon arrived to Osijek. The train had been detained in Hungary after it allegedly illegally crossed the Hungarian-Croatian border with refugees and Croatian police officers, reports Vecernji List on October 9, 2015.
During her official visit to Hungary, Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said that the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban agreed to finally return the refugee train to Croatia, while Croatian Interior Ministry said in a statement on its website that the return of the train had been agreed a week ago.
However, Hungarian government confirmed that the return of the train was agreed by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. “At the request of Croatian president, the Hungarian government has decided to return to Croatia the train which arrived to Hungary without notice on 18 September, with 1,059 migrants and 36 policemen”, said the government. It added that the return of the train will not affect criminal proceedings which are pending.
Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusić said that the whole affair was “an attempt of Hungary to meddle in Croatian elections”. “It would probably be easier for them if HDZ were to be in power in Croatia, because they expect it would solve some other things related to INA. But, I think it would be wise not to meddle in Croatian elections”, said Pusić. Asked whether she believed that president Grabar-Kitarović was responsible for the return of the train to Croatia, Pusić answered: “Hungarians are responsible for it…”.
Yesterday, 7,798 migrants entered Croatia over the Bapska and Tovarnik border crossings. They have been transported to the Hungarian border by trains. At midnight, the temporary reception centre in Opatovac accommodated 4,426 people. Since the beginning of the migration crisis in the region, Croatia has accepted 136,723 migrants.
It is expected that the influx of migrants from Serbia will continue, and possibly even increase. This is supported by the information that around 10,000 refugees entered Macedonia yesterday. Faced with a new large wave of refugees, Macedonia has ordered the mobilization of all of its police forces. All the migrants are expected to come soon to the Croatian border. This huge wave of refugees is probably a consequence of rumours about possible agreement between the EU and Turkey, which would close the border between Greece and Turkey.
Croatian Defence Minister Ante Kotromanović explained yesterday for RTL what are the plans if Germany stops accepting refugees. “If Germany were to do that, there are three options – EU could tell Greece and Turkey to begin implementing the Schengen rules. Another option is to do it on the borders of Macedonia and Albania, with all the affected countries giving their contribution to defend this part of Europe. The third option, which would be the worst in my opinion, is that each country would individually defend its borders. I hope that the first option will win and that the entry will be fully controlled during the next period.
Asked what will Croatia do if Hungary closes its border, he said “it doesn’t matter”. “If they close the border, we will do it through another country”, Kotromanović said.
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