The Croatian Interior Minister, Davor Božinović, defended on Monday 27 January before members of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE), the practices of monitoring the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, while several MEPs echoed NGO allegations that Croatian border guards are violently pushing back migrants.
Some MEPs, such as Sweden's Malin Björk (GUE/NGL), said that they had gone there themselves and met directly with migrants who had experienced this violence. They brandished photos to the minister, listing the use of "truncheons and electric cables" to scare migrants away and to "prevent them from filing an asylum application".
"You won't find any conclusive cases" confirming these “allegations", the minister replied to his audience in a tense atmosphere. The minister, whose country wants to enter the Schengen area, explained that Croatia has one of the longest borders in the EU, with migrants seeking to enter the country "illegally, to go directly to Slovenia".
Believing that migrants seeking entry are essentially "economic migrants" who "do not want to stay in Croatia", the minister considered that the situation "would be much simpler if there was a willingness in your countries to welcome them".
The minister also denied accusations of arresting migrants using tasers. "The Croatian police do not have tasers," he said.
These answers did not reassure MEPs such as Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), who spoke of a violation of the right of asylum, as these people are not allowed to submit an application. Another MEP, Clare Daly (GUE/NGL, Ireland), asked the minister how he could "know that they are economic migrants" if their profile is not studied. She called for independent monitoring to be established at this border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The minister continued to sweep aside all accusations and "images coming from non-Member States" and questioned the fact that all persons intercepted at illegal crossing points "have no identification". He also considered that, if these persons were legitimately entitled to international protection, "they would pass through legal points on the borders of Croatia".
According to the Croatian minister, the people seeking to enter the EU through this border today are not the same people as in "2015 or 2016". "They're not refugees anymore".
The discussion on the practices of the Croatian border guards almost overshadowed the other topics. On the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, the minister said only that there was no consensus among Member States on the subject and that new ideas were needed. He also considered that further practical measures to facilitate legal migration should be explored. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)