ZAGREB, June 3, 2018 – Croatian Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović said on Sunday that, if countries along the migration route running towards Western Europe that were closer to Western Europe than Croatia closed their borders to migrants, Croatia would not become a migrant hotspot.
The number of migrants sent back to Croatia is not big or worrying, but the countries that are sending them back are increasingly closing their borders and they are ready to close them entirely if the number of migrants increases, said Božinović. “We have been saying this for months, we are exchanging information and are prepared for all eventualities,” said the minister.
“If a country farther away on the route towards Western Europe closes its borders, Croatian authorities have two options – to not allow illegal entry, stay and movement in the country or to let the country turn into a hotspot, and that will not happen,” the minister told reporters in Zagreb’s Maksimir park, where a police campaign for safe cycling was taking place.
Asked about specific measures the police would take considering the new migration route and last week’s incident in which two migrant children were injured in a police operation to prevent people smuggling, Božinović said that it would be “irresponsible to discuss specific measures in public.”
“We have been analysing the situation on a daily basis, the movements and places where attempts are made to illegally cross the border into Croatia, but we will discuss specific measures internally as I would not want us to be helping smugglers by publicly communicating those measures,” said the minister.
Asked about information that scabies has appeared among migrants staying in the northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Božinović said that the police were prepared for such situations. “There were such reports earlier as well, notably in migrant camps in Serbia. We have contacted the Health Ministry, our police are equipped with gloves and disinfectants and are familiar with the procedure should such a situation occur,” said Božinović.
Asked about President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović’s support for recent referendum campaigns, Božinović said that he considered her support to be support in principle. “A referendum is a constitutional category. As for the two specific referendum campaigns, one should first see if the required number of signatures has been collected, then the signatures need to be checked, and after that one should analyse the referendum questions,” he said.
“I am aware that politicians state different views in the political sphere but the issues concerned are serious and require a very serious approach,” he said.
