"It is necessary to ensure smooth movement at the Croatian border with Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. It is crazy that people even now, before the tourist season, are waiting at the border for three-four hours. As a result, it may happen that our fellow citizens will spend two days out of the seven days of their holiday at border," Kalinak was quoted as saying by the media outlet.
On April 7, the European Union tightened security measures at external ground, air and water border posts, according to which all arriving travelers will be checked against a database of stolen and lost documents, a process which will increase the overall time of border control. The new border control regulations are being introduced in accordance with the amendments to the Schengen Code approved by the European Council in February 2017.
Before the new rules were introduced on April 7, only citizens of non-EU member states were subject to systematic checks when crossing EU borders. Citizens of the bloc and members of their families who are not EU citizens were free from external border checks.
Slovenia and Croatia are both members of the European Union, however Croatia is not part of the Schengen zone.
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