Due to Rising Water Levels, Slovenia Temporarily Removes Parts of Border Fence

Parts of the hated Slovenian wire fence are removed… for now.

Representatives of the Slovenian government said on Wednesday that the wire on the border with Croatia would remain, but that it would be temporarily removed at some locations because of rising water levels. Boštjan Šefic, Slovenian government representative, said that parts of the fence would be replaced by a metal panel fence without razor-wire. So far, Slovenia has built what it calls “technical obstacles” at 155-kilometre-long sections of the border with Croatia, reports 24Sata, Vecernji List and Tportal on January 14, 2016.

Šefic also discussed the difficulties Slovenia is encountering in regulating the migrant wave due to the measures recently taken or planned by Germany and Austria, and stressed that Slovenia will make its own decisions based on measures taken by these two countries. “Our activities are focused in such a way so that Slovenia would not become a pocket where all migrants would come if other countries north of Slovenia would refuse to accept them and the influx of migrants from the south to Slovenia would remain strong”, said Šefic.

He pointed out that there was no danger that Germany or Austria could begin returning to Slovenia those migrants whose asylum application are refused, saying that in Slovenia they have received only a temporary permit for passage through the country. According to the Schengen rules, they should have sought asylum in Greece, the first EU country they entered. “The first country where they could have requested asylum is Greece, and on their way they have also passed through Croatia which is also considered to be a safe country”, said Šefic.

Šefic confirmed that Croatia is abiding by the recent agreement with Slovenia about the number of migrants being transferred, but added that Slovenia would like to have procedures implemented for a more precise identification of migrants and better coordination of the migrant wave. “At this moment, we cannot talk about the closure of the borders, but the truth is that as far as the Western Balkan route is concerned, countries want to reduce the inflow of refugees. German politicians have said that they expect the situation to normalize in the short term, but not overnight. The same goes for Austria, which gives us some room to systematically control the refugee wave”, said Šefic.

From midnight to 9 pm on Wednesday, 1,679 refugees entered Croatia. Since the beginning of the migration crisis, 585,540 migrants and refugees have passed through Croatia. Although the registration process of migrants is proceeding smoothly, outgoing Croatian Interior Minister Ranko Ostojić said that at the upcoming meeting of police directors of all countries on the refugee route Croatia will repeat its request for migrants not to be registered separately in all the countries they pass through.

“It would be sufficient for them to be registered just in Macedonia, and then we can take their fingerprints and verify their identity”, said Ostojić, adding that Croatia is ready to give Macedonia the necessary technical equipment. He pointed out that Croatia will not enter the information about refugees into Eurodac system until the agreement made in Brussels on 25 October, which involves the construction of hotspots in Greece, is implemented.

 

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