The latest on the migrant crisis.
Representatives of the police forces from Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece met yesterday in Slovenia and talked about the cooperation in controlling migratory waves and about stricter controls and registration of refugees entering these countries, reports Vecernji List, HRT and Index.hr on December 5, 2015.
The director of the Slovenian police Marijan Fank said that in the last few days there has been a decline in the number of migrants using the Balkan route, which is a result of changes in weather conditions and measures implemented by Macedonia on its border with Greece. However, he added that the current situation is not guarantee that the refugee wave to Europe will end.
Representatives of the police forces of all four countries agreed that they should improve the means for identification of migrants. One of the proposals is the introduction of a single identification document which would accompany migrants from entering the EU to their final destination. Slovenia said that it would try to get support from other EU member states for that idea, since the implementation would require participation of the external borders agency Frontex.
Croatia did not take part in the meeting, but the director of the Slovenian police Fank said he would discuss the conclusions with his Croatian counterpart.
From midnight to 9 am on Saturday, 715 migrants entered Croatia. This morning, there was only one person at the temporary reception centre in Slavonski Brod. Since the beginning of the migration crisis, 468,343 migrants and refugees passed through Croatia.
Turkish security forces have detained about 3,000 migrants in recent days, in an effort to prevent Syrian and Iraqi refugees from crossing into Greece. Last month, Turkey agreed with the EU to take action against illegal migrants in exchange for three billion euros in aid and closer ties with Ankara, including the possible abolition of visas for Turkish citizens.
Turkish forces have this week launched operations around the Greek island of Lesbos, which is a key point just a few kilometres from the Turkish coast. Ankara also arrested 35 smugglers to whom migrants, including refugees from Syria and Iraq, paid huge sums of money to help them reach Europe. The deal between Ankara and Brussels has drawn criticism from some organizations concerned with the state of democracy and human rights in Turkey.
In Croatia, Ladislav Ilčić, president of Hrast party, one of the coalition partners of HDZ, commented yesterday on the refugee crisis. “I think we should follow Hungary’s example and build a barbed wire fence on our borders. We have to protect our sovereignty and security. The fence can be opened and we can let these people through. But, we have millions of people in Africa and Asia who want to come to Europe. These people are biologically stronger than the Europeans because they have a lot of children. Their children are just as valuable, but they are not the same as our children. We should ask ourselves if we want to have a million Muslims in Croatia. They have different mentality and they will change our culture. There is a big difference between Muslims and Croats”, concluded Ilčić.
HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko quickly reacted to Ilčić’s comments. “That is not the view of the Patriotic Coalition, we must first see what actually happened”, Karamarko said. SDP’s member of parliament Željko Jovanović said in a statement that he would leave the parliamentary chamber “whenever Ilčić speaks”.
The Islamic Community in Croatia condemned Ilčić’s statement which, they say, was insulting to Muslims in Croatia and beyond. Mevludi Arslani, Deputy Mufti of Croatia, said that Muslims are a constructive element in Croatian society. “I think these statements are offensive to Muslims and this is not good”, he said.
