Hungary to Decide Whether to Close Its Border with Croatia for Refugees

The lastest from the Croatian-Hungarian border.

“Hungary can do what it wants, but Hungary is not important, Croatia has a solution”, said Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanović shortly after midnight on departure from the EU summit in Brussels, after Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban said that the Hungarian National Security Council will this afternoon decide whether to start using the fence built on the green border between Croatia and Hungary. Such a decision by Hungary could mean that Croatia would no longer be able to direct to Hungary refugees and migrants who are entering Croatia from Serbia, but prime minister Milanović did not want to go into details and talk about possible new routes, reports Index.hr and Vecernji List on October 16, 2015.

“Croatia has a solution to protect its interests. So, Hungarian decision is not important for us”, said Milanović commenting on the Orban’s statement. Arriving to the summit, Hungarian prime minister said that on Friday they will be able to make the final decision on the closure of the border with Croatia. “We can close the border within an hour, although this is only the second best solution. The best solution is to close the Greek border and we will try to achieve that tonight”, said Orban.

But the summit which ended shortly after midnight will not automatically bring about the closing of the border between Greece and Turkey. It has sent a political message about the need for better control of the border and about better cooperation with Turkey in slowing the influx of refugees, but that process will last.

On leaving the summit, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban added that the Hungarian National Security Council will discuss the decision to close the green border with Croatia. Official border crossings would remain open, but not for what Orban and Hungarians call illegal migration. This would seem to be the same regime as the one established by Hungary at its border fence towards Serbia.

“It is a policy which has no support within the EU”, said prime minister Milanović talking about Orban’s policy of building fences on the southern Hungarian border. Asked about the second option for Croatia if Hungary does close its border, Croatian prime minister did not want to go into details. “Croatia always has the ability to build a fence. This is the last option, we do not want that. What I want to say is that our citizens can be completely calm”, said the prime minister.

In the meantime, the European Union and Turkey have agreed on a common action plan for dealing with the refugee crisis, said on Friday night the EU leaders at their summit. “We welcome the agreement between the EU and Turkey on a common action plan for dealing with the migration crisis. Our meetings with Turkish leaders here in Brussels, Ankara and New York in recent weeks were directed towards one goal, reducing the inflow of refugees from Turkey to the EU”, said European Council president Donald Tusk at a press conference after the summit dedicated to migrant crisis.

“We have agreed on the content of the action plan”, said European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. There is speculation that in return for the agreement Turkey is demanding financial aid worth three billion euros. Juncker said that “we still need to negotiate about that in the next few days”. The action plan also provides for the acceleration of negotiations on visa liberalization for Turkish citizens travelling to the EU.

Talking about the construction of the winter refugee reception centre in Slavonski Brod, Croatian interior minister Ranko Ostojić said yesterday that the logistical issues about the construction were being discussed between the government and the Croatian Army, the State Administration for Protection and Rescue and other services. “Colder weather is coming, the refugee crisis is not subsiding and therefore we need to build a winter transit centre”, he added.

Asked whether Croatia has enough money for it, Ostojić said that Croatia would not have enough money for refugees to stay in the country. “We should point out that since the crisis began, there have been no security incidents, health incidents or anything else related to the refugees – no thefts, no diseases, in the camp or outside. This is the biggest success of this operation”, he said.

From midnight to 9 pm on Thursday, 4,568 migrants entered Croatia. Currently, there are 1,122 people located at the Opatovac temporary reception centre. It is expected that the influx of migrants from Serbia will continue. Since the beginning of the migration crisis in the region, a total of 180,537 migrants have entered Croatia.

 

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