Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has said that Croatia is not in the Schengen area of passport-free travel, but that when it comes to providing and caring for refugees, it is behaving as if it were a part of that area.
In his speech at an award-giving ceremony for best law enforcement officers, held on the occasion of Police Day at the refugee reception centre in Opatovac on Tuesday, Milanovic said Croatia would remain open for the reception of refugees and it would not build fences at its borders.
Speaking about the possibility of involving police in securing the border from the migrant influx, Milanovic said Croatia did not have a sufficient number of police officers to do that job and that the army was not trained for that. The only solution left is the involvement of reserve forces, which means mobilising employed people, Milanovic said.
"Is this a solution and is this Croatia's response to the crisis? No, Croatia's response to the crisis is what we are doing now," Milanovic said.
"As long as I am doing this job I will look after Croatia's interests when it comes to the Schengen area and to what the Schengen area means to us, and it means an organised system in which Croatia's interests are protected," Milanovic said.
Since the start of the refugee crisis until 0900 hours Tuesday, more than 84,800 people entered Croatia, the Interior Ministry reported. Yesterday alone, over 5,800 migrants entered Croatia through the Tovarnik and Bapska border crossings and were then transported towards Hungary.
On Tuesday morning there were approximately 1,900 migrants accommodated in the temporary reception centre in Opatovac and police expect a large influx of migrants coming from Serbia later today.
(Hina)
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