ZAGREB, December 18, 2018 – Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said on Monday that the question if and when Croatia would enter the Schengen area should be directed at the European evaluation commission for meeting the Schengen criteria and not at Slovenia, adding that with regards to the border dispute with Croatia, his government maintained the same position of the previous Slovenian government led by Miro Cerar, who is also the foreign ministry in the incumbent cabinet, and that the border dispute was preventing an improvement in Croatia-Slovenia relations.
Šarec said the Slovenian police were doing a good job of monitoring the external Schengen border towards Croatia, but that his government advocated a stronger Frontex role at the EU external border, namely Croatia’s border towards Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, where there is a large number of potential illegal migrants who want to enter the Schengen area through Slovenia.
According to him, the number of illegal migrants caught in Slovenia this year had quadrupled.
Asked to comment on bilateral relations with Croatia, Šarec said that the problem regarding the implementation of the arbitration decision, according to which Slovenia would gain most of Savudrija Bay and a corridor to open seas, obstructed the improvement of relations with Croatia.
Slovenia sent a proposal to Croatia to set up a demarcation commission which would implement the arbitration decision, but Croatia has not responded, Šarec said.
More news on the Croatia-Slovenia border dispute can be found in our Politics section.
