Slovenian Prime Minister Golob is a guest in Vienna. He calls border point controls “not effective”. Austria’s Chancellor Nehammer remains firm but makes it clear that he wants to reassess the situation in the autumn.
Tourists in Croatia should breathe a sigh of relief: despite the massive increase in the number of migrants, Slovenia does not want to introduce any border controls with Croatia. “Of course not,” Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said on Tuesday after a meeting with Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) in Vienna. Border controls “are not effective”, Golob highlighted his demand for an end to Austrian controls on the Slovenian border. Nehammer remained steadfast in this regard. Golob’s message was clear: Austria’s border controls with Slovenia “were not necessary, they do not work and they are not legal either”, said Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob.
In the run-up to Golob’s visit, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior published current migration figures from Slovenia, according to which illegal border crossings into the neighboring country have increased “drastically” this year. As of early June, Slovenian authorities had detained 16,131 people, compared with 4,598 people in the same period last year. In this regard, Golob “posed the rhetorical question” of whether Slovenia should use these figures as an opportunity “to introduce controls on the return of Austrian tourists during the festive season. That probably tells us everything about the usefulness of these controls.”
“We don’t want to hit our own population or our neighbors with measures that are not effective,” Golob said. The high number of arrests in Slovenia shows that other measures to combat illegal migration are more effective. “We register all migrants. The numbers are very high for us because we record them. This process is much more effective than border point controls.”
Controls from the inside: Denmark as a model
In this context, the Slovenian prime minister emphasized Denmark, which also lifted border controls with Germany in May and is relying more on controls from the interior. Austria, Slovenia and Croatia will now proceed similarly in a joint initiative. “Our regional initiative is to control migratory flows throughout the territory, not just at the borders,” he said. “Slovenia does not want to abolish Schengen. We want to be a model for dealing with migrants differently.”
Nehammer took Golob’s suggestion on board. He will give Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) “the order to expand cooperation with Slovenia”, the head of government said. At the same time, he reiterated the Austrian position that border controls on the Slovenian border were necessary. This year, there were again 18,000 asylum applications in Austria, and most of these migrants had not previously been registered in another EU country. This shows that the Schengen area is “not working”. Nehammer hinted that border controls with Slovenia could be tested again in the autumn. “If we manage to reduce the pressure, we can talk about it”, he said, referring to the measure that is valid for six months.
Questioned, the chancellor admitted that due to the “strict surveillance” of the Slovenian border, there was a “deviation” towards Italy. However, he sees no reason to introduce border point controls on the Austrian-Italian border. In this regard, he argued with the “high black market statistics” in Italy, veil hunting in the Brenner Pass and that “there has been no significant increase” in the route through the Canal Valley (between Tarvisio and Udine).
Agreement on other matters
Aside from the border control dispute, nothing seemed to fit between Golob and Nehammer. The two presented themselves as harmonious both in reforming EU asylum and in insisting on a swift rapprochement of the Western Balkans with the EU. In this regard, Golob accepted the Austrian proposal for a change in the EU enlargement process in order to selectively integrate the accession countries beforehand. “Individual countries in the Western Balkans have been waiting for the next step for 20 years. We fear that this will be the case in 20 years if nothing changes (in the accession process, note)”, said Golob. Without changes, it will also not be possible to “find solutions for Moldova and Ukraine”, he warned.
Nehammer and Golob, who came with a large delegation of journalists, presented harmoniously on the issue of minorities. Nehammer described his counterpart as the “representative of the interests of the Austrian ethnic group” and noted that support programs for the Slovenian minority are being expanded. Golob specifically called “for the Slovenian language to be reintroduced in nurseries and kindergartens”. He also called for a solution to the use of the Slovenian language in the Carinthian district courts, which is to be reorganized due to the merger of the courts. Parallel to the meeting of heads of government, the Slovenian Minister of Justice, Dominika Švarc Pipan, spoke in Klagenfurt with representatives of the Slovenian minority on the subject.
Austria against extending the life of the Krško nuclear power plant
While Nehammer set aside the controversial issue of nuclear energy – Austria is fighting against extending the useful life of the Krško nuclear power plant and plans to build a new reactor there – Golob proposed building a gas pipeline from the Croatian Adriatic via Slovenian territory to Austria. This project would reduce Austria’s dependence on Russian gas. It was “positively received” by the Austrian side and is now being discussed at expert level.
Golob, who has been in office since the end of May 2022, is in Austria for the first time. Nehammer received him at the end of the morning with military honors in front of the Federal Chancellery. In the afternoon, a city tour was scheduled. After lunch, a visit was scheduled to the president of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka (2:15 pm). (APA/ed.)