Hungary reinstates border controls at Slovenian frontier
The decision follows Hungary's closure of its border with EU member state Croatia, forcing asylum seekers and migrants to divert their route through Slovenia.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told the state-owned news agency MTI that the controls were put in place after the government received reports that migrants were being transported to its border with Slovenia.
Szijjarto said the move was "carried out within the framework of the Schengen agreement," which allows passport-free travel between 26 European countries.
Open borders
Meanwhile, at least five buses filled with migrants arrived at the Slovenia-Croatia border as authorities coped with the reroute, according to Slovenian police spokeswoman Suzana Raus.
The migrants will be registered in Slovenia, after which they will be transported to a migrant center near the country's border with Austria. Slovenian police said they were coordinating their efforts with Croatian authorities.
Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said Friday that it would leave its borders open with Serbia as long as Germany and Slovenia continued to accept migrants, according to AFP news agency
"Slovenia will not close its border unless Germany closes its border, in that case Croatia will have to do the same…There is no alternative," Pusic told state broadcaster HRT.
Fleeing war and poverty
More than half a million asylum seekers and migrants have fled war-torn countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and entered the EU in 2015, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Many of them cross into the EU in Italy or Greece as they make their way to Germany and Sweden, preferred countries for asylum seekers.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy for refugees has come under increased scrutiny by conservative allies, who believe the EU's largest economy cannot cope with the influx of refugees.
ls/rc (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)
