Collapsing Schengen: strict control at Hungarian Schengen border remains in effect longer

It has become official: Slovenia’s reestablished border control on the Hungarian-Slovenian border will remain in effect longer than thought before.

According to portfolio.hu, the Slovenian government decided on their Friday session to keep strict border control in effect on the Croatian and Hungarian border. Hungary’s Western neighbour reestablished control on 21 October for only ten days, which can be extended for a maximum of two months. The new deadline is 19 November. In practice, that means strict border control will be in effect on the Slovenian-Hungarian border for at least one month.

The Ljubljana government explained that the reason behind the drastic measure is the Middle Eastern and Ukrainian security situation. They believe the ongoing wars in the two regions can destabilise safety and public order in the European Union. Another pack of arguments include the terror attacks committed recently in some Western European countries.

Third-country citizens in trouble

On 2 November, the Croatian, Italian and Slovenian foreign affairs ministers will meet to discuss the topic of border control in Triest, Italy. Italy informed its neighbours before that they would keep strict border control on the Slovenian-Italian border during winter.

Slovenia created 14 checkpoints on their Croatian and Hungarian borders. 12 is between Slovenia and Croatia, while two are on the 102 km-long Hungarian-Slovenian border.

EU citizens may use all border crossings. However, third-country nationals can only enter Slovenia legally via those 14 checkpoints.

We wrote HERE that Slovakia also reestablished border control on the Slovakian-Hungarian border in early October. Before, they sent 500 soldiers to the border to help it protect against illegal migrants. HERE you may read how many illegal migrants tried to break through Hungary’s Southern border.