At the end of July a project was launched in Slovenia to prepare for the setting-up of a Schengen border. The government has established a special inter-departmental coordinating group headed by Slavko Debelak, the former state secretary at the interior ministry. In recent years Slovenia has been increasingly exposed to a wave of illegal immigration, principally from the Middle East and Asia. In the face of this phenomenon controls at the border with Croatia, which will become an external EU border after Slovenia joins the European Union, are all the more important. This border will have to comply with the strict Schengen standards. The setting-up of a so-called Schengen border represents a major challenge for Slovenia because it is a task that is not only complex but also expensive.
While Slovenia must put in place a Schengen border with Croatia it will have to abolish controls at the borders with Italy and Austria at the same time, and also with Hungary if the Hungarians join the EU at the same time as Slovenia. These borders will become so-called internal borders within the EU. The project is a huge task both organisationally and financially. There are three basic aspects to the setting-up of a Schengen border: the first is the Schengen system, which is the responsibility of the police; the second is the customs system; and the third is inspection or phytosanitary and veterinary control. Slovenia has set a target date of 1 January 2003 by when it should be ready to join the EU.
Not all the border crossings with Croatia will be Schengen borders; bilateral transport will continue across those that are not. There will most probably be three Schengen border crossings by road: Gruškovje, Obrežje and Jelšane; and the Schengen rail crossing will be at Dobava. In addition, there is also the Port of Koper and the airports at Ljubljana and Maribor. All the external border crossings will need to be built up and equipped in accordance with Schengen standards because the Slovenian-Croatian border will be a kind of sieve on the EU's southern frontier.
It will be necessary to build suitable infrastructure at the border crossings. A lot of work awaits Slovenia in this area because all of the border crossings with Croatia were constructed rapidly and lack the appropriate equipment. The external border crossings will have to be equipped with suitable laboratories for veterinary and sanitary inspectors, and they will need to be incorporated into the Schengen Information System. Good traffic flow will need to be ensured, which means that appropriate transport links urgently need to be constructed.
Slovenia will of course need to be fully prepared if it wishes to carry out the task of being the bulwark on the EU's southern border, and will need to take into account the situation in Croatia as well. Just like Slovenia, Croatia too has set itself the target of joining the EU, and when that happens the EU border will be shifted further south. The situation will need to be carefully analysed, and in relations with Croatia certain expectations will need to be established, just as some years ago Austria and Italy did in relations with Slovenia. In other words, if Croatian border controls are effective then it will be easier for Slovenia to retain a benevolent attitude towards its neighbour. But there is no doubt that Slovenia will have to carry through the Schengen provisions consistently. The interior ministry maintains that there will be no change in the border regime for ordinary citizens, because after all no one wants to see the creation of some sort of new iron curtain. And even after the Schengen agreement comes into force it should still be possible to cross the Croatian border with just an identity card.
Although we do not yet know how much it will cost us to set up the Schengen border, experts say it will be an expensive project comparable with motorway construction. As an indication, Austria spent around 20 billion German marks just for the police part of setting up the Schengen border. Slovenia is of course counting on substantial help from the EU. Although it is Slovenia's intention to begin implementing the Schengen agreement as soon as it joins the Union, this does not necessarily mean that Italy and Austria will immediately abolish controls at the border with Slovenia. Not only must Slovenia be ready, Europe must also be prepared to trust us, stresses Slavko Debelak, who heads the inter-departmental coordinating group on the setting-up of the Schengen border.
The Schengen agreement - an agreement on the abolition of controls at internal borders and strengthening of controls at external borders - was signed in 1985 by five European countries: France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In 1995 controls at the internal borders of the Schengen countries were abolished with the aid of the Schengen Information System. Since May last year the provisions of the agreement have been part of the acquis communautaire.
Between 1 January and 30 June this year the police dealt with 11,876 cases of foreigners illegally crossing the border, which is 6 per cent more than in the corresponding period last year. In the first six months of this year 84,931,683 people crossed international and local border crossings in both directions. The number of illegal border crossings has risen this year principally on account of a greater number Iranian, Romanian and Turkish nationals, while there has been a strong fall in the number of Yugoslav nationals compared to last year. Most of the illegal immigrants dealt with have come into Slovenia across the Croatian border; this figure has risen by 69 per cent compared with last year. Ljubljana is in third place in terms of the number of illegal aliens apprehended, after Murska Sobota and Nova Gorica.
Alongside organised crime, the battle against illegal immigration is one of the most pressing issues facing almost all European police forces and the entire industrialised world. The prevention of illegal immigration has a dual importance for the Slovenian police. Slovenia is becoming a destination country for certain categories of illegal immigrants, which is having an impact on the development of a wide range of criminal activity, including organised crime, and thereby on the general level of security in the country. Slovenia's EU alignment efforts are another aspect. EU member-states demand and expect that Slovenia will put the same effort into preventing illegal immigration as is required of the member-states by the signed agreements that will be binding on Slovenia when it joins the EU, such as the Schengen agreement. The Slovenian police are currently concluding the first so-called twinning in the area of national borders, and it will soon be known how many police officers Slovenia will need to post on the future external border of the EU. According to forecasts, that figure is approaching 3,000. At the moment fewer than 700 police officers work on Slovenia's southern border. A strengthening of police personnel is currently unrealistic as the police force is already lacking 700 officers.
The Slovenian police force is constantly improving its equipment for preventing illegal immigration. Nevertheless, improved levels of technical equipment will not lessen the pressure from illegal immigrants at the border; Slovenia can only resolve that problem with the help of the EU countries. For instance, in the long term the pressure from illegal immigrants at the Slovenian border can only be reduced by Bosnia-Herzegovina bringing its visa policy into line with the visa policy of the EU countries, which would substantially reduce the flow of illegal immigrants from Iran, China, Turkey and other countries in the Middle and Far East. These are the countries that the majority of illegal immigrants come from. A report on this problem compiled by the Slovenian police was recently sent to the Slovenian foreign ministry and the German interior ministry. This autumn Slovenia is set to sign a deportation agreement with Bosnia-Herzegovina. The signing of a deportation agreement with Iran will also be proposed as it is Iranian nationals, some 3,612 of whom have been apprehended this year, that represent the biggest problem. When they are apprehended none of these people have personal documents on them, and at least half request asylum in Slovenia. Yet despite this they disappear from Slovenia within a few days and are clearly abusing the asylum system; for them it is a tried and tested way of reaching their target country in the West despite being caught. The police suspect that not all of those claiming to be from Iran are really Iranian nationals.