- Published: 20.01.2025.
Ministers of Croatia, Slovenia and Italy discuss border situation, memorandum signed on trilateral border patrols
The ministers of interior affairs of Slovenia, Croatia and Italy discussed today in the Slovenian Nova Gorica the prevention of illegal border crossings and the fight against the smuggling of migrants, as well as the fight against all forms of terrorism, evaluating it as a unique way of regional cooperation that is not limited only to these three countries.
The chief directors of the three police forces signed an operational Memorandum of Understanding by which all three parties will agree on the modalities of joint trilateral patrols on the external border of Croatia.
"Our cooperation certainly contributes to a better understanding of how certain open issues can be applied at the level of the entire European Union. That is why we expect from this memorandum even more effective cooperation between the police services of the three countries in detecting and preventing illegal migration," said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović in a statement to the press after this sixth meeting of ministers.
He added that all countries are recording better results, so that in Croatia last year there were 58 percent fewer illegal crossings compared to 2023. In addition, he stated, the trends in these first twenty days of this year are on the track of further reduction, that is, in these few weeks there were 60 percent fewer illegal crossings compared to the first three weeks of last year.
"The cooperation will primarily relate to improved exchange of operational data through existing tools and the implementation of trilateral patrols with defined priorities. The Croatian police is one of the most active police forces in terms of protecting external borders. Last year, we prevented 71 thousand individual crossings of the Croatian border," Božinović emphasized, adding that the memorandum signed today represents the way in which the European Union will fight illegal migration in the future.
Support for the signing of the agreement between Frontex and BiH
Slovenian Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar supported the signing of the agreement between the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to mitigate illegal migration and ensure an effective fight against illegal migration.
In support of this, Božinović pointed out that 40 percent of illegal migrants arrive precisely as citizens of countries that do not have a visa regime with neighboring countries in the Western Balkans, so that, as he said, they come to these countries unhindered, mainly using commercial flights, and then head to the green border and practically turn into illegal migrants. He reiterated that the Croatian police are very engaged in the fight against migrant smugglers, recalling that 1,834 of them were arrested in Croatia last year alone.
"The result of our strong cooperation and agreement are the constructive measures we are taking in the fight against these migrations and human smuggling," said Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi.