“I am pleased that today we have carried out an in-depth assessment of the cooperation of the three countries in the field of internal affairs,” Minister Poklukar said in a press release after the meeting, welcoming the Italy’s initiative to organize the meeting.
The ministers particularly focused on the Western Balkans migration route, which passes through the three countries towards destination countries in the European Union. “We had in-depth discussions on how to work together in this format to help the different Western Balkan countries prevent illegal border crossings even more effectively.” The ministers also discussed the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area. According to Minister Poklukar, Slovenia believes that both countries meet the conditions for entry into the Schengen area and will contribute to more effective protection of the EU’s external borders. Ministers also discussed the visa policy of some Western Balkan countries towards third-country nationals, noting that there is a link between visa regimes and migration, the number of irregular entries of some nationalities having declined since Serbia introduced visas for these people last year. “This is where the European Commission will have to do its homework. We all want to prevent third-country nationals from entering certain Western Balkan countries for tourism reasons and then illegally crossing the borders of EU member states “It is our firm commitment to resolve this problem more effectively,” Minister Poklukar said.
They talked about the presence of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as this initiative has been on the table for some time. According to Minister Poklukar, Frontex is a very effective European police force to protect the borders of the European Union, including in the Western Balkans. “The Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina will visit Slovenia next week and we will discuss with him the conclusions of today’s meeting. I believe that we will achieve this, because it is about the security of the countries of the Western Balkans, which ultimately is the security of all of Europe.”
Another important issue discussed today was the internal controls imposed in recent days by Italy and Slovenia in response to the terrorist threat, which is still extremely high in some EU countries and average in Slovenia. This is a risk we must address, according to Poklukar. And the answer lies in particular in the exchange of police information and the cooperation of all the interior ministers in the region. “Once the terrorist threat has been somewhat reduced, we would like to see the lifting of internal border controls and a return to compensatory measures and normal policing, which will be equally effective,” Minister Poklukar emphasized. .
Today, ministers exchanged a number of measures and proposals, including improving police cooperation. They agreed that the directors general of the police forces of the three countries should meet at least once a month via video link to exchange information. “Effective exchange of police information allows all police forces in the region to act more quickly, and that is what we want,” Mr Poklukar said.
One of the conclusions of today’s discussion was that the three countries should work together more effectively through joint patrols. “The initiative is perfectly legitimate and appropriate, but the details of how such a system would work in practice need to be agreed operationally.” The ministers also agreed to create a joint coordination center of Croatian, Italian and Slovenian police forces to exchange information and cooperate even more effectively. “The police cooperation that the three ministers are talking about is extremely important. Only rapid action and a rapid flow of information will dismantle the criminal groups that make money by smuggling foreigners across national borders. Every country is effective in this regard”, and I believe that together we can do even better,” said Minister Poklukar.
Ministers agreed to continue these meetings in the future. Slovenia has proposed a meeting in March 2024 in Slovenia as part of the Brdo process, which also brings together interior ministers from the Western Balkan countries.