Božinović: Croatia is ready to apply the Pact on Migration and Asylum

EU Interior Ministers gathered in Luxembourg on Thursday for a meeting of the Council for Internal Affairs. Among the issues discussed were illegal migration and drug trafficking. However, a number of interior ministers also voiced strong support for a proposal to restrict protected status for fighting-age Ukrainian men.

Representing Croatia at the meeting in Luxembourg was Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Davor Božinović, who claimed that illegal migration is on the decline. He also said that after implementing protection mechanisms at the external border, Croatia is ready to apply the Pact on Migration and Asylum.

"I would especially emphasize the very important fact that the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament have agreed to a new regulation on returning illegal migrants. This is a very important element of the overall pact, because without the effective return of illegal migrants, meaning those who do not meet the conditions for international protection at the EU level, that pact would not achieve results. Now we have this new situation and it will come into force very quickly. As soon as it comes into force, part of the provisions will be applied immediately, including what we have been advocating for years now, and that is that Frontex gets a very clear, visible and much more precise role in terms of returning illegal migrants," Minister Božinović said.

The ministers also discussed new strategies to combat drug trafficking, which according to Minister Božinović Croatia has made solid progress in tackling: "Croatia has achieved serious results in this area. Recently, in our report on the work of the police, we noted that last year the Croatian police registered the largest ever number of individual drug seizures, almost 12 000 of them. But what is even more important, is that were busted more than 120 organized crime groups involved in drug smuggling."

Source: HRT