Croatia’s accession to Schengen caused massive traffic chaos in the Balkans towards the end of the holiday period. Drivers were stuck in border traffic jams for up to 16 hours.
The new year brought Croatia not only the euro, but also accession to the Schengen area. Thus, while Croatia opened itself up further to Central Europe, a new external border emerged with its neighbors Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is now causing frustration among passengers and those returning from Balkan holidays.
Up to 16 hours of standby time
If you want to enter Croatia through the Balkans, then you will need a lot of patience at the end of the vacation. Miles of traffic jams and hours of waiting dominated the Schengen border transit experience. Over the weekend, eleven-hour delays were reported at some busy border crossings.
As “Kleine Zeitung” reports, many travelers feel abandoned by the Croatian Automobile Club HAK and complain about the lack of information.
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“We found out before we started our journey, waiting times of up to two hours were announced. In fact, on Sunday, we stayed at the Bajakovo border crossing for ten and a half hours,” an exasperated woman told Croatian news portal “24sata”. on the blatant situation at the Croatian-Serbian border: ” We still have drinks and Čvarak in Serbia [Grammeln, Anm.] shopping, at least we don’t starve”.
Read more: 11 hours of waiting at the Balkan border
“Sixteen hours of waiting, a catastrophe with no water, no food. How can Croatia reach Europe this way?” a Croatian driver told Euronews (see video above).
Ivan Ribicic, director of a tollbooth near Zagreb, told Euronews: “Entering the Schengen area coincided with the end of the holidays. Crowded at the borders.”
More traffic jams on Monday
On Monday afternoon, HAK’s cameras (see photo gallery above) showed some relaxation. But especially in Bajakovo and the neighboring municipality of Tovarnik, on the Zagreb-Belgrade highway route, it continued to grow. According to the Croatian Automobile Club, the waiting time around 3:30 pm was about 30 minutes when entering the Schengen area.
Coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, it also continued to accumulate on a small scale. A sheet metal avalanche was observed on Monday afternoon at the Maljevac border crossing.
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