EU’s outer borders need to be adamantly protected and controlled!
Madrid, 22. October 2015 – President of the Slovenian People’s Party (SLS) Marko Zidanšek, MSc, met with President of the European People’s Party (EPP) Joseph Daul this morning. They spoke about the SLS proposition for a Global Partnership for Peace and a constant Global Security Conference that the SLS sent to the leadership of the EPP and leaderships of all EPP member parties. Zidanšek informed Daul of the exacerbating refugee and migrant situation on the Slovenian-Croatian border and mass illegal crossings of the Schengen border that have only been escalating this morning. Zidanšek and Daul agreed that EU’s outer borders need to be adamantly protected and controlled, Daul emphasising that protecting the Schengen border needs to start in Greece.
Zidanšek expressed the expectation that the EU-Balkan Summit, which is to be held on Sunday, will bring a decisive beginning to a swift common resolution of the migrant problematic in the EU. He urged Daul to devote his undivided attention as the EPP President to this Summit. In Daul’s assessment, Europe has finally begun to realise all the different aspects and dimensions of the migrant crisis and the severity of this issue now that more member states of the EU are coping with the crisis first-hand. He also believes this has led Europe to see the urgent need for a swift and common action. Daul assured Zidanšek that he is going to speak with the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker about the extremely difficult migrant situation Slovenia is currently facing, before the EU-Balkan Summit.
“I sincerely hope that the EU-Balkan Summit will be successful, however, I remain a realist. Some European and Balkan countries may have started seeing things more clearly, but it is still not nearly enough to solve such a complex and global crisis,” Marko Zidanšek forewarns and emphasises that the migrant crisis is a global issue. “Until the prevalent opinion in the EU is that a few European Presidents and Presidents of a part of the Western Balkans will be able to stop the migrant tsunami over Europe, we are still a long way away from a solution and alleviating the situation. It also worries me that Slovenian citizens will once again become hostage to the irresponsible and cowardly politics of the current Slovenian Government, which is shown in their inability to effectively coordinate and communicate about this issue with Croatia and other neighbouring countries,” Zidanšek summarises the biggest problem in Slovenia.
More pictures from EPP Madrid here.