The Government of the Republic of Slovenia decided to lift the temporarily reintroduced control at the internal borders with Croatia and Hungary. The government’s decision was announced by Franci Matoz, Minister of the Interior and Public Administration, and Danijel Lorbek, Acting Director General of the Police.
According to Minister Matoz, "the government decided to discontinue border checks at the internal borders with Croatia and Hungary. Border control will be carried out through different, more effective police measures. The lifting of border checks will not diminish security; on the contrary, it will improve it. The police are changing their approach to the surveillance of the border with Hungary and Croatia, which will ensure greater police effectiveness on the ground. This will involve, in particular, random checks based on risk analyses and the implementation of compensatory measures, primarily on the most important and highest-risk transit routes." Such a measure is also urgently needed given that the number of migrants on the Western Balkan migratory route has increased dramatically. Since the measures will be targeted, they will be far more effective in preventing illegal border crossings and other forms of crime.
"By lifting internal border checks, we will reduce the workload on police stations and ensure a greater patrol presence on the ground. What is equally important is that this will ease the flow of travellers and cross-border freight traffic on Slovenia’s already overburdened roads," said Matoz.
We will continue to closely monitor potential risks and the security situation in the country and the wider region, as well as the effects of the lifting of the temporarily re-introduced control at internal borders.
With its decision to discontinue border control, the government has followed the European Commission’s recommendations regarding the necessity and proportionality of Slovenia’s reintroduction of border control. We will notify the European Union member states and European institutions of our decision.
Acting Director General of the Police Danijel Lorbek said that the police would stop carrying out checks at internal borders at midnight tonight. "In concrete terms, this means that at midnight, police officers will leave border crossing points, adjust traffic signs so that passage will be unimpeded, remove all equipment, and resume work in their original units." The police will make up for the checks with compensatory measures along the state border and inland.
According to Lorbek, the lifting of border checks means that more police officers will be available to carry out other police tasks, including the implementation of the pact on migration and asylum, for the number of illegal border crossings has increased by more than 60 percent this year.
More information, see the press release from the Ministry of the Interior