Related releases

 

Following today's session of the European Council in Brussels, Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar attended a meeting with the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, in response to Mr Cerar's call for a meeting last week. At Slovenia's prompting, the European Commission also issued more detailed guidelines for the implementation of systematic checks at the Slovenia-Croatia border. In the event of a delay of more than 15 minutes, it will now be possible to switch to targeted checks. This clarification represents a step forwards, Mr Cerar said.

Slovenia will be able to begin implementing these more detailed guidelines in the coming days. If additional clarifications are required, these will be provided by the European Commission, explained Mr Cerar. Mr Juncker's statement that Slovenia is correctly implementing the rules on systematic checks and cannot be criticised in this respect is particularly important, said Mr Cerar, who reiterated that Slovenia has and will continue to implement the rules as necessary but will not do so at the expense of any other party. The latter would be utterly senseless, he said, and insisted that all accusations or allegations in this direction are entirely unfounded. Even under the present implementation of the new rules, at times of major delays Slovenia has adopted provisions that have enabled specific derogations and switched over to targeted checks. "Since then I have sought additional clarifications from the Commission, which is the body that can help us interpret the Regulation," the Prime Minister explained. These additional clarifications or more detailed guidelines were given by the Commission today.

Mr Cerar said that the meeting was constructive and that all three parties are united by the same goal, namely to implement the rules correctly and ensure security without causing additional delays. He pointed out, however, that there has been congestion at border crossings in the past and that there will be in the future. "Even in past years, before this Regulation existed, there were queues of several hours," he said. "People should not get their hopes up too much and imagine that there will not be any queues. Thanks to these guidelines, however, we will now be able to reduce those queues that form as a result of the new arrangements." Mr Cerar emphasised that the detailed guidelines remain within the scope of the EU regulation on systematic border control and that it is important for Slovenia to remain a member of the Schengen system.

Today's meeting also gave the Slovenian Prime Minister an opportunity to call once again for the abolishing of temporary border checks at the border between Austria and Slovenia, i.e. within the Schengen area, a measure that in Slovenia's view is not justified. This view is supported by objective evidence.