Slovenian Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar, together with his Italian counterparts Matteo Piantedosi and Croatian Davor Božinović, called for increased cooperation in border patrols along the Western Balkans route.
Their comments came during a trilateral meeting held in Trieste, during which it was agreed to strengthen joint border patrols, thereby introducing joint police coordination centers and organizing regular meetings of ministers and police commissioners concerned from these three countries. SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The Italian Interior Minister said that data collected after the first ten days of reintroduction of Schengen border controls inspires optimism and shows that the measure has been effective, emphasizing that the measure was implemented in Italy from so as not to pose major problems for cross-border trade. -cross-border workers.
The Italian minister reiterated that controls were reestablished following the analysis of the terrorist threat and that they will be extended until the situation improves.
Piantedosi said three measures were agreed at the meeting: the creation of a permanent structure for the organization of mixed police brigades, the creation of joint police coordination centers and the decision to make these trilateral meetings regular .
The Minister of the Interior of Slovenia, Boštjan Poklukar, expressed the hope that another country will decide to participate in this initiative.
According to him, the visa policy problem should be resolved at the EU level, stressing that the three ministers are committed to ensuring that internationals no longer arrive in Western Balkan countries as tourists and head then towards the west.
The minister also expressed his support for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area as well as the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Poklukar also announced that this week Bosnian Security Minister Nenad Nešić will visit Slovenia.
According to the statement provided by the Slovenian government, Croatian Interior Minister Davor Božinović considers abuse of asylum policy at EU level to be the main problem.
He stressed that all third-country nationals arriving in Slovenia and then Italy from Croatia are registered. Božinović believes that mobile police patrols are more effective than checks at main border crossings.
The joint patrols have arrested more than 500 illegal migrant smugglers so far this year and detected some 26,000 illegal border crossings.
Statistics from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) revealed that in the first nine months of this year, in total, 279,350 irregular attempts to cross the EU’s external borders were detected, with the Western Balkans migration route representing the most active route in September this year.