ZAGREB, June 29, 2018 – This morning the leaders of the EU’s 28 member states reached a compromise on the migration issue, agreeing on the establishment of joint centres for processing asylum applications on a voluntary basis and the restriction of migrant movement within the EU. This compromise helped to overcome objections from Italy, which made the adoption of any conclusions conditional on an agreement on migration.
Asked by reporters if Croatia was willing to participate in the establishment of control centres, Plenković said: “There won’t be any in Croatia. They will be there where ships are docking. We are talking about people disembarking ships. There was no volunteering for the centres. This wasn’t a subject of discussion at all. That depends first and foremost on those countries where those ships will dock and they are mainly docking in Italy and Malta.”
He said a comprehensive compromise was reached on the migration issue and that it included the concerns of the countries on the central Mediterranean route, Italy and Malta.
Plenković said he was pleased the conclusions stated that Croatia was very important in a sentence on boosting cooperation in readmission, returns, and the exchange of information with Southeast European countries so as to stop illegal migration. “That’s the most important thing for Croatia,” he said, adding that for Croatia it was good that its southeastern neighbours were boosting their border control capacities.
“In light of our ambitions to be a Schengen member state, we consider these conclusions to be good. The idea is to pay the second instalment of the deal with Turkey, to pay another 500 million euro into the Fund for Africa. Croatia is already paying its share for Turkey, has been doing so systematically for the past few years, and will continue to,” Plenković said, adding that next week the government would decide on paying another 300,000 euro into the Fund for Africa.
Croatia has already paid 300,000 euro into the Fund for Africa as well as over 4 million euro of its 5.9 million euro instalment of the aid for Turkey.
Plenković went on to say that Croatia was working on its own capacities for the reception of refugees and migrants. “We have centres in Zagreb and Kutina. We must raise those capacities independently of these conclusions.”
