Italy may extend border controls with Slovenia for additional 6 months

Rome: The extension of land border controls between Italy and Slovenia was discussed yesterday between the Interior Minister of Italy, Matteo Piantedosi, and his counterparts from Slovenia, Boštjan Poklukar, and Croatia, Davor Bozinovic.

Italy’s land border controls with Slovenia may be extended beyond December 18, 2024, the date that such a measure is scheduled to end.

On November 18, the Interior Minister of Italy, Matteo Piantedosi, had a telephone conversation with his counterparts from Slovenia, Boštjan Poklukar, and Croatia, Davor Bozinovic, SchengenNews reports.

The extension of land border controls between Italy and Slovenia for an additional six months was the main focus of these phone calls.

According to a report from the Italian news agency, Ansa, the prolongation may come amid terrorist and irregular migration concerns.

Given the persistence of dynamics of instability in the current international scenario – Piantedosi declared – with colleagues, we shared concerns about the risks of terrorist infiltration in migratory flows along the Balkan route. In this perspective, I also underlined the importance of border controls for the security aspects related to the Jubilee 2025.

The Italian minister argued that land border control measures would be implemented as always, in such a way that causes the least inconvenience possible to the citizens of Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia.

Gorizia and Nova Gorica – concluded the Minister of the Interior – will be the joint Capital of European Culture in 2025 and, also in the perspective of the unitary European vision, careful monitoring combined with the necessary security measures, will be able to guarantee the correct execution of celebratory events and demonstrations.

Mentioning concerns related to terrorist activity connected to turmoil in the Middle East, the risk of terrorist infiltration in irregular migration flows, and violence related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Italy informed the European Commission that it would initiate border controls at the country’s land border with Slovenia on June 19, 2024.

The measure was scheduled to remain effective until December 18, 2024; however, land border controls may not be abolished as initially planned.

The recent figures from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) revealed that the number of irregular border crossings at EU’s external borders in the first ten months of 2024 decreased by 43 per cent, totaling 191,900 detections.

The same reveals that the most significant decline was noted in the Central Mediterranean route (62 per cent decline), and in the Western Balkan migratory route (80 per cent).

The Central Mediterranean route, which also includes Italy, saw 47,700 irregular entry attempts from January until September 2024.

Despite the decrease in irregular entry attempts, migratory pressure remains high. Based on the recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), asylum requests in Italy in 2023 increased by 69 per cent compared to the figures from 2022.

Recently, several European countries have reintroduced border controls in a bid to enhance their national security, with Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands being among the recent ones to notify the European Commission regarding such a measure.

However, Italy’s neighboring countries, Austria, France, Slovenia, and Switzerland, have not applied such a measure to Italy, at least not all of them.

The Ministry of the Interior of Austria recently announced that it will maintain border controls effective until May 2025 with Hungary and Slovenia, with the Minister of Interior of Austria Gerhard Karner considering the measure effective in the fight against irregular migration. But Austria didn’t include Italy in this recent decision.

Slovenia also maintains border controls with Croatia and Hungary, which were introduced on June 22, 2024, over terrorist threats and global security concerns. However, unlike Italy, Slovenia excluded Italy from the measure that is scheduled to remain effective until December 21, 2024.

Switzerland, another neighboring country of Italy, opted for alternative measures instead of the introduction of border control.

The only neighboring country of Italy that maintains border controls with Italy is France.

France introduced border controls with its six Schengen Zone countries, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy on November 1, 2024.