The latest on the migrant crisis, as a record number of daily arrivals enter Croatia.
Just a day after Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojić said that the big migrant wave caused by the strike of port workers in Greece has passed, on Thursday a record number of 9,823 migrants passed through a transit centre in Slavonski Brod. The minister explained that the reason was the opening of a new refugee route through Bulgaria. He added that the hopes that the influx of refugees could be reduced due to the strike of public ferries had turned out wrong, because private ferries were not on strike and had already transported 5,500 people, reports Vecernji List on November 14, 2015.
From midnight to 9 pm on Friday, 5,315 migrants and refugees entered Croatia. In the reception center in Slavonski Brod, there are currently 992 migrants. Since the beginning of the migration crisis, 379,129 migrants and refugees have entered Croatia.
Asked for how long will Croatia tolerate the fence which Slovenia has put up on Croatian territory, Ostojić said that it was not a problem to bring down the barrier and that even a hunting society could do it. However, we first need to see how large is the area which Slovenians want to fence off and how they plan to protect the fence. He said that even the whole NATO could not do it and added that he believes that this act had been caused by Slovenian internal political reasons.
“Of course, we will respect our laws, but we will not allow ourselves to be provoked by someone entering five meters into our territory. We have sent a protest note and expect their reaction”, Ostojić said, calling once more for all the countries on the migrant route to actively engage in addressing the refugee crisis and to establish camps like the one Croatia has in Slavonski Brod. As far as Austria’s announcement that it will set up its own fence along the Slovenian border at Šentilj border crossing is concerned, Ostojić does not believe it is a plan that could force Croatia to become a “hotspot”. According to him, the goal of raising the fence is to avoid unorganized and uncontrolled influx of migrants.
Austria has announced that it will build 3.7 kilometres long fence at the Spielfeld/Šentilj border crossing with Slovenia, as part of efforts to strengthen the control of the influx of migrants. “This phase will last for two months”, said the public safety director Konrad Kogler at a press conference. Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner stressed that the EU has been informed about the measure, which is the first time that fence is being placed between two member states of the Schengen area. The measures will also include preparations for the possible construction of additional 25 kilometres of fence, said Kogler.
