Cuts at the migrant camp in Slavonski Brod.
Due to cost-cutting, as of today workers at the temporary refugee camp in Slavonski Brod will no longer receive lunch and dinner, and there will be some other cuts as well, warned the Centre for Peace Studies. “We were informed yesterday by the Croatian Red Cross that they will cut costs in the camp by 20 to 30 percent. These are costs which are financed by the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, starting from today, people working at the camp will no longer have lunch and dinner provided, and human resources will also be reduced”, reported the Centre for Peace Studies, which is a part of the Welcome Initiative which brings together more than 60 NGOs and more than 400 volunteers who provide daily support to refugees in coordination with the Croatian Red Cross, the Asylum Coordination and state institutions, reports Tportal.hr on February 2, 2016.
There will be additional cuts as well, but the Centre for Peace Studies has not received detailed information. The Interior Ministry and the Croatian Red Cross have not commented on the reasons and criteria for cuts in the temporary refugee camp.
Croatian Interior Minister Vlaho Orepić said last week that the migrant crisis was one of the most important issues for his ministry and later added that “Croatia might arrange for migrants to not even stop in Croatia, but just to pass through its territory”. He did not explain what he meant and how would the whole process work.
During the tour of the refugee camp in Slavonski Brod a week ago together with former Interior Minister Ranko Ostojić, Orepić was asked by reporters what will Croatia do about refugees and he answered: “We will act in accordance with requirements.” He just announced that he would daily monitor the activities in the refugee transit centre. “It is wrong to just talk about whether there would be a barbed wire fence on the border or not. This problem has several aspects”, said Orepić at the time.
Meanwhile, the media noted that the Interior Ministry’s official website has stopped publishing data on the daily inflow of migrants to Croatia. The Ministry said that they were not trying to hide anything and that the data on migrants was available on request. They explained their decision by the fact that the interest in the refugee crisis had subsided.
As far as Croatian neighbourhood is concerned, Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovač is today visiting Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that “Hungary will never again allow refugees to enter its territory. Migrant routes can go wherever they want, but they will not pass through Hungary.”
