Slovenia Putting up Fence Along Border With Croatia to Control Migrant Flow

 

Slovenia began erecting a razor wire fence along parts of its border with Croatia on Wednesday Nov 11,2015, saying it wanted better control over a tide of migrants flowing through the tiny country en route to other areas of Europe

 

Around 180,000 people, many fleeing war in Syria and Afghanistan, have streamed into Slovenia since mid-October 2015 after trekking northwards along a Balkan corridor from Greece, most of them bound ultimately for Austria and then Germany

Slovenian army trucks loaded with wire fencing arrived in Veliki Obrez, a village on the southeastern border with Croatia, early on Wednesday. By 1400 GMT, over 1 km (mile) of wire had been strung up

"The barriers do not have the purpose of preventing arrivals to Slovenia or significantly reducing them... Their purpose is to direct the flow of migrants to controlled entrance points," Bostjan Sefic, state secretary at the Slovenian Interior Ministry, told

 

He said that a total of 1.5 km (0.9 mile) of fence had so far been erected along two locations on the border but declined to reveal how many more kilometers would be fenced off.

The main point of disagreement in the EU is over mandatory national quotas to share out asylum seeking refugees and migrants among the 28 member states.

Hungary, whose anti-immigrant government shut its border to arriving migrants in October, as well as the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia deeply oppose the quotas.

Slovenia is facing more pressing logistical concerns. Prime Minister Miro Cerar said on Tuesday that the ex-Yugoslav republic, the smallest on the migrant route, lacked the resources to shelter large numbers over the harsh winter if Austria closed its border as well.

Slovenia's boundary with Croatia will remain open, Cerar said, but the fence will prevent migrants entering the country at uncontrolled points along the frontier.