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Slovenian warns of conflict due to new refugee wave

Xinhua, September 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar has warned that a new refugee wave and the re-opening of the Balkan route could cause a conflict in the region, media reported Wednesday.

He made the warning when interviewed by the German weekly Die Welt, saying that Slovenia would find it hard to cope with potential new waves of migrants even thought the nation had successfully managed the first wave, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

"We managed to control the migrant flow, but I don't know if we would be able to manage such a crisis once more. As a small country with only two million people, we would not be able to take such an effort over and over again," said Cerar.

Cerar believes that the re-opening of the Balkan migration route would cause a "conflict -- both in Central Europe and the Western Balkans", the STA reported.

"If too many illegal migrants came, all countries will close their borders. This would lead to disputes," he said, warning that the "domino effect" would strongly affect economies and tourism of all countries involved.

The Slovenian prime minister also warned that Austria was already preparing to close its borders.

"Closure should take place on the borders of the Schengen zone. But this is not the idea of the countries of this area. This is why we need to do everything to prevent conflicts in the Balkans and the disintegration of Schengen," said the Slovenian prime minister.

"If we fail to solve this problem of migration within the EU and together with Western Balkan countries, then we don't have any common future," Cerar warned.

He criticised Greece for not doing enough to protect the external Schengen border during the first refugee wave, although it had received financial support and support in the form of police officers from other EU members.

"If Greece keeps failing to show responsibility and solidarity, then the remaining members of the Schengen zone will examine all possibilities very quickly. It is also about our existence," Cerar said in answering a question about a possible exclusion of Greece from the Schengen zone.

He explained that this did not mean that Europe would not receive any more refugees.

"Of course we will ... but if too many of them came, we would not have the capacity to integrate them and they would be pushed on the margins of the society," he said. Endit