In the latest developments on the migrant crisis, the nation of Slovenia stated that it shall consider all options, including ‘fencing off its border with Croatia, if European leaders fail to agree a common approach to the migrant crisis as thousands stream into the ex-Yugoslav republic.’
Migrants began crossing into Slovenia last Saturday after Hungary apparently closed its border with Croatia. The Slovenian Interior Ministry said that a total of 50,400 had entered the country since Saturday, and some 10,300 are at the moment in the tiny country.
“We can not receive so many refugees in such a small period of time..It’s just unbearable,” Prime Minister Miro Cerar told in his statement to the media outside a refugee camp in Dobova.
Late on Thursday evening when asked if there was the possibility of building a fence on the border, Cerar told Slovenian state TV: “We are considering also those options.”
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Several European leaders are due to meet in Brussels on Sunday under the auspices of the European Commission to discuss the latest developments in the migrant crisis, Europe’s biggest since World War.
Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa have reached Europe this year, with hundreds losing their lives in risky voyages across the Mediterranean. Most are trying to reach Germany and other rich countries.
Croatia began directing migrants into Slovenia, which is part of the European Union’s open border Schengen Area, after Hungary closed its borders.
But bottlenecks have built up along new routes and border crossing points in the Balkans, and aid workers fear the humanitarian crisis will deepen as winter weather sets in.
Slovenia has asked for the EU assistance and officials also state that the nations of Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland offered to send police reinforcements.
