Slovenia PM says won't agree to refugees being returned back

Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said on Thursday that his government would not agree to refugees being returned to Slovenia from Austria and Germany, saying "there is no reason or legal foundation for such an approach."

Cerar made this clear stand when speaking live for public broadcaster RTV Slovenia on Thursday evening from Valletta, Malta where he attended an European Union summit, according to a report by Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

He was responding to a question from the reporter on the evening news show as to whether Slovenia should be concerned due to the possibility of Germany and Austria returning refugees to the countries through which they entered the European Union (EU) in line with the Dublin Declaration.

Cerar replied in the negative, saying that apart from the principle being legally complex, the government "will not agree to refugees being returned to Slovenia."

The prime minister reiterated that Slovenia had already agreed to accepting a certain number of refugees under the EU plan for relocation of refugees within the bloc.

Slovenia will indeed accept those people and integrate them, "but we cannot agree to any kind of forced returning of refugees to Slovenia," he stressed. "Slovenia as a country with two million people could simply not handle such pressure."

Meanwhile, more than 7,400 refugees arrived in Slovenia by 6 p.m. on Thursday, with at least one train carrying more than 1,000 people expected for later in the evening at Rigonce, the small town bordering Croatia, with which, according to the Slovenian police, the total number of arrivals since mid-October is likely to exceed 193,000 by the end of the day. Endit