If the plan is implemented, many migrants might remain trapped in Croatia.
Although the last weeks’ meeting of the European Council, the summit of 28 heads of EU states and governments, ended with an apparent success for Croatia, which demanded speeding up the readmission of rejected asylum-seekers back to Serbia and the strengthening of border capacities of Croatia’ neighbours which are not part of the European Union, what followed was an unpleasant surprise for Croatia, reports Večernji List on July 2, 2018.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s statement that the German border police officers are willing to help protect external borders in Slovenia and Bulgaria was surprising because the Slovenian border, unlike the Bulgarian one, is not the EU’s external border. It is just the external border of the Schengen area. And, in recent months, Croatia has been trying to explain to its European partners the importance of strengthening the EU’s external (eastern) border in Croatia, instead of creating additional barriers at the Croatian (western) border with Slovenia.
The Chancellor’s idea, which focuses on the Slovenian border, is contrary to Croatian endeavours. Her statement also surprised Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar. “At this point, that is not necessary. This solution should be considered if a large increase in migration numbers occurs,” Cerar added, stressing that Slovenian police were well protecting the Schengen border.
The idea of sending German border guards to the Slovenian-Croatian border was not just a passing comment at the press conference given in Brussels, but part of the letter written by Angela Merkel who is trying to rescue her ruling coalition from a possible collapse if its sister party CSU is not satisfied with the decisions taken by Merkel at the summit.
However, the latest solution proposed by Merkel could be futile if the CSU and German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer decide that the summit agreement on the migrant crisis is inadequate and if they continue to insist on a plan to send police officers to the German borders with orders to refuse asylum-seekers on the spot.
Translated from Večernji List (reported by Tomislav Krasnec).
