Quelle: b92

The Croatian government „is ready to build a fence on the border with Serbia if its Plan C on the transit of refugees to Slovenia fails.“

This is according to a report in the Zagreb daily Jutarnji List.

„If Slovenia or Austria drastically reduce the influx of migrants, we’ll have no choice but to limit the number of people who are coming from Serbia,“ the paper quoted an unnamed source from the Croatian government.

According to this source, „the construction of the fence would last several weeks, because in some parts of the border the work would be more difficult because of natural obstacles such as wetlands.“

The daily said that plans to build a fence on the border have been made, „and everything is ready for the start of works which will, according to estimates, last about two weeks.“

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has repeatedly said that the raising of walls on the border with Serbia would be „the last of the last solutions“ and that Croatia does not want to do that „because it is wrong and ugly“.

He also said that Croatia will continue to receive refugees and send them on to Slovenia, from which they want to reach Western Europe. Milanovic emphasized, however, that Croatia „will not keep and more people than it can receive in the country.“

After Slovenia introduced a partial blockade of its border in the night between Sunday and Monday, and Croatian police began to limit the numbers coming from Serbia, with growing tension on the Serbian side as more and more refugees are waiting in the open and rain to cross the border. At the same time trains and buses are being sent to Slovenia „outside of agreements.“

The daily estimates that if the border with Serbia is shut down „the most promising variant“ would be to redirect a part of refugees to Romania and then to Hungary, which has not closed that section of its border – „while the less probable option is for refugees to move from Serbia toward Bosnia, and then Croatia.“ According to the paper, this is less likely „because of the natural barriers they would be encountering.“