New Refugee Transit Centre Opens in Croatia, Slovenia Buys Barbed Wire for Border Fence

The latest from the migrant crisis, as Slovenia goes shopping for barbed wire.

From midnight to 9 pm on Tuesday, 5,573 refugees and migrants entered Croatia. Currently, there are 1,130 migrants in the Opatovac transit centre, and 2,049 migrants in the Slavonski Brod winter transit centre. Since the beginning of the migrant crisis, 317,990 migrants and refugees have entered Croatia, reports Index.hr and Vecernji List on November 4, 2015.

In accordance with the agreement reached by the interior ministers of Croatia and Serbia Ranko Ostojić and Nebojša Stefanović, refugees and migrants crossing from Serbia to Croatia are taken by train directly from Šid to the new winter transit centre in Slavonski Brod. The centre in Opatovac will remain on stand-by and could be reactivated if necessary.

The first group of a thousand refugees arrived yesterday morning in the newly-opened winter transit centre in Slavonski Brod. The refugees will be accommodated in heated tents, with showers and separate facilities for vulnerable groups, women, children and the elderly. The camp can receive about 5,000 people.

“I want to go to Finland because my friends are there. They have told me that Finland is accepting refugees. It is a safe, industrial country. In the area where I used to live, there is a war going on and my family is also at risk. After I arrive in Finland, I will call them to join me. We want to live in peace”, Ali Asghar (24), mechanical engineer from Afghanistan, said in Slavonski Brod.

Croatian interior minister Ranko Ostojić explained that the refugees in the camp will first be registered, adding that registration is now fully automated and will be carried out much more quickly than before. “After photographing and fingerprinting, refugees will receive packages with food and other supplies. They will then return to the same train and continue with their journey. So far, there has been no incidents”, Ostojić said. He added that this procedure will be applied until the need arises for people to stay a bit longer in the camp. In that case, everything is ready to accept up to 5,000 people.

Slovenian government has allegedly ordered a large amount of barbed wire for possible protection of its southern border towards Croatia, if migrants and refugees again start to disorderly cross the border, which is currently not the case, leading Slovenian dailies reported on Wednesday. Barbed wire that should block the way for migrants on the most sensitive parts of the green border with Slovenia has been bought in Poland and will come to the country in a few days. Government sources have refused to confirm or deny that information.

Asked whether Germany and Austria will soon close its borders to immigrants, Slovenian prime minister Miro Cerar at a press conference on Tuesday answered rather vaguely, but reiterated that Slovenia would soon have to act alone if the migrant wave is not controlled and reduced, saying he does not exclude introducing other measures on the border with Croatia.

“If we were to face a large number of migrants who could not be controlled, especially if Germany and Austria begin to restrict their admission, we will be ready to build a fence and other obstacles”, Cerar said and added that it would not mean the complete closure of the border with Croatia, but a better control of the refugee wave. Some Slovenian dailies report that some of the fence was purchased from Hungary, which has a surplus of material after it closed its border with Serbia and Croatia.

Slovenian foreign minister Karl Erjavec was asked yesterday about the possibility of constructing a fence on the border with Croatia. Erjavec reiterated his repeatedly expressed view that Slovenia would have to react in the same way as Germany and Austria. “If Austria were to toughen its measures, Slovenia would be forced to do the same”, Erjavec said. “We are prepared for all scenarios, we are in contact with Austria and Germany, we have all the information. Everything depends on their actions”, Erjavec concluded.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said she does not want to build a fence to stop the refugees and migrants on the German-Austrian border because that could lead to “armed conflicts” in the Balkans. In a speech at the regional conference of her CDU party in Darmstadt, Merkel warned that the closure of the German-Austrian border would cause disorder on the migrant route. Merkel believes that the fence on the German border would prompt the construction of border fences between a number of other countries on the Balkan route, which would lead to tensions which could easily turn into a physical confrontation.

Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanović responded that there will be no war in the Balkans in the event of the closure of the German border to refugees and migrants, and added that Croatia can close its borders “much faster” than Germany.

 

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