Border controls within Schengen do not prevent terrorism and the growth of extremism, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in an interview with France 24 television, stressing that the solution is to protect the EU’s external borders and harmonize BiH and Serbia with the EU’s visa policy.
When asked about the Slovenian introduction of border control towards Croatia, Plenković said that Ljubljana only followed the Italian decision to introduce border control towards Slovenia, while other countries, such as France, Germany and Austria, are currently using this possibility.
“I believe that this is a signal to public opinion and citizens that governments care more about security. But will such a move really prevent terrorist attacks or the rise of extremism? I don’t think it will, but we need to increase the cooperation between our police services and try to exchange as much information as possible and protect our borders at the real external borders of the European Union,” said Plenković, reports Hina news agency.
In order to control migration via the Eastern Mediterranean route, in addition to strengthening the Greek-Turkish and Bulgarian-Turkish borders, it is necessary for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia to harmonize their visa policy with the EU.
“What we have now is that people fly to Sarajevo or Serbia by plane as tourists and then in one day they are transformed from tourists into illegal migrants who lead smuggling groups across the green border,” the Croatian Prime Minister pointed out.
Asked about the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Plenković repeated that all EU members agree that Israel has the right to defend itself, but that international humanitarian law should be respected.
After the “terrible terrorist attack by Hamas” and the “slaughter of civilians” it was “reasonable to expect their (Israeli) reaction and anyone would react in their position”, emphasized Plenković.
The Croatian Prime Minister expressed his regret for the failure of the negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia, but emphasized that it was not expected that Serbia would sign the de facto recognition of Kosovo before the elections in December.
