Ghent – Implementation of the EU migration pact will be a challenging task for Slovenia, said Slovenian Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar on the sidelines of a ministerial conference on the implementation of the pact in Ghent, Belgium. European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, however, believes that the migration pact will also contribute to the better functioning of Schengen.
“Slovenia needs to transpose 12 components of the pact into legislation. I believe that this is quite a challenging task, because we are time-limited. The transposition and implementation of all this needs to be completed in two years, and I believe that Slovenia will be successful in this,” said Poklukar.
The European Commission is expected to present a joint plan for the implementation of the pact in June, and then the member states will prepare their national plans, for which they will have time until January 2025.
Poklukar expects the Slovenian plan to be ready by the end of this year. At the ministry, a team has already been formed that will prepare everything necessary, and a working group will also be established for coordination with other ministries.
He also expressed the hope that the pact, which is expected to ensure better protection of the external Schengen borders, will contribute to the abolition of controls at internal Schengen borders. Austria has been conducting controls at the border with Slovenia for eight years, and last October Slovenia also introduced controls at the borders with Croatia and Hungary. This decision was made following the control introduced at the Italian-Slovenian border by Rome.
Meanwhile, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Johansson believes that the EU migration pact will contribute to the better functioning of Schengen. (April 30)