EU regulation on stricter border controls derogated from temporarily

After European Union Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos was notified on Saturday of problems that led to a disproportionate effect on the traffic flow at Croatian border crossings, it has been agreed to temporarily derogate from the border crossings regulation on the internal borders with Slovenia and Hungary and to activate targeted controls of citizens of the European Economic Area and Switzerland, the Croatian Ministry of the Interior said in a statement in the evening.

A regulation amending the Schengen borders code to reinforce checks against relevant databases at the external borders, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 15 March 2017, entered into force on Friday.

The regulation introduced systematic checks of third-country nationals, as well as of citizens of the European Economic Area and the Swiss Confederation enjoying freedom of movement, at the internal borders of the European Union between Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary.

Despite the use of all available technical and human resources of the Croatian border police and despite the cooperation with the border police of Slovenia and Hungary, delays at the border crossings could not be alleviated, the statement said.

Stricter border controls were put in place to prevent any illegal or terrorist activities.

Text: Hina

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