October the 4th, 2024 – The Croatian Interior Ministry (MUP) is seeking the help of a company through a tender to deal with the country’s ever-pressing illegal migrants.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the “forcible removal” (prisilno udaljenje) of illegal migrants from third countries by air, land and water, is what the Croatian Interior Ministry is seeking help with.
The removal of these individuals will be organised in one of the aforementioned ways should the launched tender prove to be a success. The manner in which these removals will take place will depend on the number of people being removed, as well as on the necessary escort of police officers, a medical team and translators.
Naturally, the destination for illegal migrants attempting to enter Croatia itself will define how the chosen company that applies for the tender will have to organise the trips. What the selected company will have to ensure is, “the possibility of the organisation of removal with all airlines that have flights from Croatia”. According to a report from Večernji list, this might also be done with charter flights.
“The contractor will be obliged to provide the contracted type of aircraft in airworthy condition and filled with fuel, together with the licensed crew at the contracted time, ready to fly. The contractor shall bear all operating costs of the aircraft (fuel, insurance, ground services, flight control, etc) and the crew related to the contracted flight operations. They will also have to cover all passenger taxes, the airport fees of both the departure country (Croatia) and destination, catering (food and drinks) of the same quality as on its regular flights,” they explained from the Croatian Interior Ministry.
They added that for regular flights, one-way tickets will be purchased for the removed foreign citizens, and return tickets for their companions – the police officers. If necessary, the same will be done for members of the medical team and any translators. The Croatian Interior Ministry has also stated that it is important for free ticket cancellation to be possible, be that for a plane, bus, train or ship. The organisation must also be able to be done at the last minute.
What they’re looking for is “the possibility of urgent hotel booking and the issuance of plane tickets up to one day before the trip, the possibility of issuing a new plane ticket (if it’s necessary to replace the travelling police officer if there’s a change at the last minute), and the possibility of the urgent issuance of the plane ticket for one or more police officers, translators or medical staff members.
In addition, urgent changes of route and transit airports for all or some of the passengers must be possible, among other things.
The company that applies to the tender and is successful will also have to organise the transfer of these people from the airport to their hotels and vice versa. The Croatian Interior Ministry added that “hotel accommodation must include a bed and breakfast offer, internet, and agency fees and residence tax in a minimum three-star accommodation facility in accordance with the categorisation standards in Croatia, regardless of the country or hotel in question”. As for the “removals” themselves, the latest data from Eurostat reveals that in the second quarter of this year alone, 96,115 citizens of non-EU countries were ordered to leave a certain EU country, and 25,285 people were returned to third countries following a deportation order.
Compared to the first quarter of 2024, the number of deportation orders has been 7 percent lower, while the number of returns to third countries is 3.9 percent lower. Eurostat experts have also stated that the most “removals” were ordered by France, followed by Germany. Algerians and Moroccans are the most frequently asked to leave, while Georgians are the most frequently deported, followed by Albanians and Turks. As far as Croatia is concerned, slightly more than 2,000 people were ordered to leave the country in the second quarter of 2024, while about half as many were “removed”.
Croatia is otherwise ninth in the EU in terms of the number of third-country nationals returned by the government to their homelands.
