In Trieste, the ministers of the internal affairs of Italy, Croatia,and Slovenia agreed in principle on the strengthening of mixed border patrols, the establishment of joint centers for foreigners and regular meetings of ministers and police directors.
Ministers Matteo Piantedosi, Davor Bozinovic, and Bostjan Poklukar discussed strengthening cooperation in border surveillance on the Western Balkan migrant route, two weeks after the re-establishment of control at internal Schengen borders.
Italian Minister Matteo Piantedosi said that border surveillance was introduced based on analyzes of the threat of terrorism.
The Italian minister highlighted three conclusions of the meeting. The first is the establishment of a permanent structure for the organization of mixed police brigades. Another measure is the establishment of common centers for the reception of foreigners. Police leaders will agree on the operational details of both measures. The third conclusion is that the format of tripartite ministerial meetings will become permanent. Police leaders should videoconference more often and share security information.
Asserting that there is no alternative to the cooperation of the three countries, Croatian Minister of the internal affairs Davor Bozinovic said that cooperation takes place between the police, but also between intelligence agencies.
Poklukar emphasized that it will be necessary to solve the problem of visa policy at the level of the European Union (EU), and that all three ministers are working to ensure that foreigners no longer enter the countries of the Western Balkans as tourists, and then go west.
At the same time, he supported the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen area, and the operation of the Frontex agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). In support of this, Minister Bozinovic stated that there is a big problem with migrants abusing the asylum institute in Croatia, so they could then illegally move to Western Europe.
He stressed that all citizens of third countries who come from Croatia to Slovenia and then to Italy are registered. According to him, even before entering Croatia, they crossed the territory of at least one EU country, so he called on those countries to cooperate as well, BHRT reports.
E.Dz.
