Croatia Slams Slovenia Over Anti-Refugee Fence Construction

Croation Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said that Slovenia violated the bilateral agreement on border cooperation and in many places constructed a razor wire fence is on the territory undeniably belonging to the Republic of Croatia.

BELGRADE (Sputnik) — An ongoing construction of a fence between Croatia and Slovenia commissioned by the Slovenian government to ease the refugee flow is violating the Croatian territory, Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said Friday.

On November 11, Slovenian soldiers started to construct a razor wire fence along its border with Croatia to counter the influx of migrants seeking asylum in Europe.

"In recent weeks, the neighboring state several times stepped on Croatian territory and violated the bilateral agreement on border cooperation, and in many places constructed a razor wire fence is on the territory undeniably belonging to the Republic of Croatia, thus creating obstacles in a number of joint border crossing points," Pusic wrote in a letter to First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans.

The Croatian foreign minister added that Zagreb had sent five diplomatic notes urging Slovenia to take down the fence.

Ljubljana previously stated that the fence would be deconstructed once the refugee influx to the country ceases.

Croatia and Serbia serve as two of the many transit points for hundreds of refugees fleeing violence and poverty in the Middle East and North Africa en route to the European bloc.

Over 1.2 million illegal border crossings have been detected by the EU border agency Frontex since the beginning of 2015.